WILHELM  LANG  HANS 


History  of  Music 

In 
Twelve    Lectures 


Translated   From 

The    German 
By 

J.H.Cornell. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DEPARTMENT  OF  UNIVERSITY  EXTENSION 


GIFT  OF 


I/HIV.  Of  C^ 


THE 

HISTORY  OF  MUSIC 

IN  TWELVE  LECTURES 


BY 

V 


WILHELM  LAMGKMS. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERMAN 

(SECOND,    ENLARGED    EDITION,    WITH    ILLD8T  RATION!) 

» 

BY 


J.  H.  CORNELL. 


NEW  YORK 

O.  SCHIRMEK,  35  UNION  SQUARE  (WEST  8IDK). 
1896. 


M 

L 


Copyright  1886  by  G.  Schirmer. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

TO  THE  SECOND   EDITION. 


The  plan  of  these  Lectures  as  also  the  grouping  of  the 
material  are,  notwithstanding  considerable  enlargement  of  the 
several  sections,  the  same  here  as  in  the  first  edition  and  in  the 
lectures,  forming  the  basis  of  the  book,  delivered  by  me  in  1877 
and  1878  at  Berlin.  The  chief  aim  that  I  then  had  in  view  was 
to  awaken  in  larger  circles  an  interest  for  music-history,  and  that 
by  the  examination  not  only  of  certain  epochs  lying  closer  to  our 
intelligence  but  of  its  entire  course  of  development  For  proxi- 
mately  attaining  this  end  in  a  limited  time  I  had  to  content  my- 
self, as  regards  the  representative  characters  of  those  epochs, 
with  emphasizing  in  a  general  way  their  art-historical  significance 
and  referring  to  the  excellent  biographers  that  each  of  them  has 
found  in  modern  times:  BACH  in  PHILEPP  SPITTA,  HANDEL  in 
FUIEDRICH  CHBYSANDER,  GLUCK  in  ADOLPH  BERNHARD  MARX, 
HAYDN  in  CARL  FERDINAND  POHL,  MOZART  in  OTTO  JAHN, 
liiiETHOvEN  in  ALEXANDER  W.  THAYER.  With  reference  to  more 
remote  epochs  I  recommend  to  the  reader,  provided  I  have  at 
all  succeeded  in  instigating  him  through  my  scanty  recital  to  a 
more  exhaustive  study,  the  valuable  works  of  a  FOUKEL,  an  AM- 
BROS  and  a  FETIS  ;  moreover,  with  special  reference  to  the  musie 
of  antiquity,  the  no  less  meritorious  works  of  FRIEDRICU  BELLER- 
MANN,  WESTPHAL,  GEVAERT,  WEITZMANN;  to  that  of  the  Middle 
Age,  of  HEINRICH  BELLERMANN,  and  of  modern  times,  of  FRANZ 
BRENDEL  But  if  any  should  deem  the  leap  too  great  from  my 
small  monograph  to  those  authors,  treating  their  subject  as  they 
do  with  extreme  profuseness.  to  such  the  "Manual  of  music-history" 


IV  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

(Handbuch  der  Musikgeschichte)  by  A.  VON  DOMMER  (2a  edition, 
1878),  also  his  "Elements  of  Music"  (Elemente  der  Musik)  and 
revision  of  KOCH'S  "Musical  Lexicon"  (Musikalisches  Lexicon)  will 
afford  a  trustworthy  basis  for  their  study. 

As  to  the  scruples  felt  by  some  critics  on  account  of  my 
dragging  the  present  time  into  the  sphere  of  historical  considera- 
tion —  scruples  that  are  at  bottom  well-founded,  as  I  by  no 
means  deny  —  I  judged  that  I  might  also  in  this  edition  dis- 
regard them,  because  the  efforts  of  our  prominent  musical  con- 
temporaries almost  entirely  start  out  from  historical  premises,  and 
we  in  profoundly  occupying  ourselves  with  them  involuntarily 
direct  our  attention  to  the  past.  That  RICHARD  WAGNER  especi- 
ally has,  as  writer  and  also  as  poet  and  musician,  extensively 
contributed  to  enlivening  the  interest  for  the  history  of  music, 
even  the  opponents  of  his  art-tendency  must  concede,  and  I  felt 
that  even  out  of  consideration  for  my  knowledge  I  ought  on  this 
occasion  not  to  overlook  his  labors  as  artist  and  esthetician.  I  do 
not  by  any  means  hold  that  the  historian  jeopardizes  the  objec- 
tivity necessary  to  him  by  retaining  close  contact  with  the  devel- 
opment of  his  own  time  also;  nay,  I  maintain  even  that  he  is 
bound  never  to  lose  sight  of  the  relations  between  the  "hereto- 
fore" and  the  "now",  forasmuch  as  a  great  number  of  historical 
facts  are  comprehensible  only  in  the  light  of  the  present.  "It  is 
the  privilege  of  the  living"  —  says  GUSTAV  FUEYTAG  in  his 
"Pictures  of  German  antiquity"  (Bilder  aus  der  deutschen  Ver- 
gangenheit)  —  "to  interpret  all  the  past  according  to  the  needs 
and  claims  of  their  own  time.  For  the  Monstrous  and  Inscrut- 
able of  historical  life  will  be  supportable  to  us  only  when  we 
recognize  in  it  a  passing  away  corresponding  to  our  reason  and 
our  heart's  desire,  in  heaped  up  ruin  an  infinite  source  of  new 
life,  out  of  the  Perishing  the  Becoming.  Therefore  a  nation  that 
rejoices  in  its  Present  loves  also  to  recall  its  Past,  because  it 
recognizes  in  it  the  broadcast  seed  of  its  blooming  fields." 

Berlin,  May,  1879. 

W.  LANGHANS. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE.   - 


In  editing  the  present  work  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  oc- 
casionally omitting  portions  of  it,  in  the  interest  of  English- 
speaking  readers  and  for  giving  the  book  a  more  generally  pop- 
ular character.  These  few  omissions  concern  chiefly  material  of 
interest  to  Germans,  as  such,  exclusively,  also  one  or  two  ex- 
planations of  a  strictly  scientific  character,  for  which  I  have  re- 
ferred, instead,  to  easily  accessible  works  in  the  English  language. 
At  the  same  time,  not  only  has  every  single  point  of  general 
interest  been  scrupulously  retained,  but  considerable  additions 
from  approved  sources  have  been  made,  with  a  view  to  greater 
copiousness  or  clearness  where  cither  seemed  to  me  desirable. 

New  York,  September,  1885. 

J.  H.  CORNELL 


CONTENTS. 


L  Antiquity.  Aim  and  plan  of  the  study  of  music-history.— 
Characteristics  of  the  music  of  the  East-Indians,  Chinese,  Egyp- 
tians, Hebrews.  —  Music  of  the  Greeks.  —  The  ancient  Tragedy. 

—  Influence  of  Greek  philosophy  on  art-development.  —  Lyrists 
instrumental  virtuosos,   theoreticians.  —  Decay  of  music  under 
Roman  dominion.  —  Emperor  NERO 1—14 

II.  The  Music  of  the  early  Christian  Age.  Dependence  of  early 
Christian  art  upon  the  antique.  —  Continued  influence  of  Greek 
culture  even  after  the  migration  of  the  nations.  —  THEODORIC, 
King  of  the  Goths.  —  The  Greek  tonal-system  as  basis  of  the 
Christian.  —  Establishment  of  the  first  singing-schools  at  Rome. 

—  Reforms  instigated  by  Archbishop  AMBROSE  and  Pope  GRE- 
GORY. —  Charlemagne.  —  The  Singing-school  of  St.  Gall      .    .    15— JS 

III.  The  Beginnings  of  Polyphonic  Music.    The  Arabians  and 
the  Northern  nations.  —  Musical  instruments  and  the  "Organum". 

—  HUCBALD.  —  Neumes.  —  GUIDO  D'AREZZO.  —  Solmisation.  — 
Mensural  music.  —  FRANCO  OF  COLOGNE. —  Scholastic  philosophy    26 — 39 

IV.  The  Musical  Sovereignty  of  the  Netherlanders.    Crusades. 

—  Troubadours.  —  Minnesingers  and  Mastersingers.  —  Guilds  of 
instrumental  musicians.  —  German  Folk-song.  —  The  Papacy  in 
Avignon.  —  Disc-ant.  —  The  Netherlander  in  Rome:   DUFAY, 
OCKENIIEIM,   JOSQUIN.  —   Improvements  in  the  art  of  music- 
printing.  —  Preparation  for  the  Renascence  by  DANTE,  PETRARCH, 
BOCCACCIO 40 — 53 

V.  Luther's  Reformation  and  the  Renascence.  Plastic  art  and 
music  at  the  beginning  of  the  16th  century.  —  Protestant  church- 
song.  —  Its  re-action  on  Catholic  church-music.  —  PALESTRINA. 

—  Classic  art.  —   Attempts    at   resuscitating    antique   art.  — 
Monody  and  recitative.  —  CACCINI  and  PERL  —  The  Opera      .    54 — 63 

VL  Italian  opera.  Venice.  —  WILLAERT  gives  the  church-music  of 
Venice  a  dramatic  character.  —  His  pupil  ZARLINO  introduces 
the  pure  diatonic  system.  —  A  and  J.  GABRIELI.  —  Develop- 
ment of  the  Opera.  —  MONTEVERDE,  CAVALLJ.  —  Chamber-music 
style.  —  The  Neapolitan  School  of  A.  SCARLATTL  —  Its  pro- 
pagation throughout  Europe.  —  Artistic  singing.  —  Rivalry  of 


VHI  CONTENTS. 

the  later  Neapolitans  with  GLUCK  and  MOZART.  —  ROSSINI.  — 

VERDI «3— 74 

VII.  French  Opera.  PERRIN  and  CAMBERT,  founders  of  the  na- 
tional opera  in  France.  —  Development  of  the  latter  by  LULLI 
and  RAMEAU.  —  Equal  temperament.  —  Comic  opera.  —  Bouf- 
fonites  and  Anti-bouffonites.  —  The  Philosophy  of  Enlighten- 
ment of  the  18'fa  century.  —  JEAN  JACQUES  ROUSSEAU.  — 
GLUCK.  —  The  Paris  Conservatory  of  Music.  —  Foreign  com- 
posers in  the  service  of  French  opera:  CHERUBINI,  SPONTINI, 

MEYERBEER 75—91 

VHI.  German  opera.  First  operatic  performance  in  Germany.  — 
Rise  of  a  German  national  opera  in  Hamburg.  —  REINHARD 
K.EISER.  —  Ennobling  of  the  Song-play  by  J.  A.  HILLER.  — 
DlTTERSDORF  and  Comic  Opera.  —  MOZART'S  "Entfuhnmg"  and 

"Zauberflote".  —  BEETHOVEN'S  "Fidelio" 92 — 1C3 

IX.  The  Oratorio.  Passion  and  Mysteries  in  the  Middle  Age.  — 
The  musical  congregations  of  PHILIP  NERI.  —  Introduction  of 
the  dramatic  style  into  the  church:  CAVALIERE,  VIADANA,  CA- 
RISSIMI.  —  LOTTI,  CALDARA,  MARCELLO,  the  last  representatives 
of  the  Venetian  School.  —  Development  of  church-music  in 
Germany:  ORLANDUS  LASSUS,  ECCARD,  HANS  LEO  HASLER, 
HEINRICH  SCHUTZ.  —  Mixture  of  operatic  and  church  styles 
in  Hamburg.  —  Passion-text  of  the  licentiate  Brockes.  — 
HANDEL  and  BACH.  —  Development  of  imisical  affairs  in  En- 
gland. —  MENDELSSOHN,  and  his  "St.  Paul''  and  "Elijah"  .  .  104 — 121 
X.  Instrumental  Music.  The  Organ,  and  keyed  string-instru- 
ments. —  The  Lute.  —  Tablature.  —  Bow-instruments  and 
wind-instruments.  —  Instrumental  style.  —  Instrumental  music- 
forms.  —  Cyclical  forms:  Partita,  Suite,  Sonata.  —  The  mod- 
ern pianoforte  sonata  and  the  orchestral  symphony.  —  German 

philosophy  of  the  18th  century 122 — 140 

XI.  The  Eomanticists  of  the  19th  century.  Influence  of  ro- 
manticism on  lyric  poetry.  —  Folk-song  and  art-song.  —  De- 
velopment of  the  latter  by  FRANZ  SCHUBERT  and  ROBERT  FRANZ. 

—  Romantic  opera:  SPOHR,  WEBER,  MARSCHNER.  —  Romantic 
instrumental  music :  MENDELSSOHN,  SCHUMANN.  —  Songs  with- 
out words.  —  French  romanticists:  BERLIOZ,  LISZT,  CHOPIN. 

—  Program-music.  —  Modern  pianoforte-playing 141—156 

XII.  Bichard  Wagner 157—1^3 


APPENDIX. 

Table  for  memorizing  certain  dates  of  musico-historical  im- 
portance     175—178 

INDEX    .  .  179—185 


I. 

ANTIQUITY. 

To  appreciate  rightly  and  enjoy  fully  the  works  of  the  human 
mind,  we  must  not  only  thoroughly  study  these  works  themselves, 
but  also  be  acquainted  with  the  conditions  under  which  they  could 
and  had  to  attain  to  maturity.  If  then  it  may  be  maintained  that 
we  cannot  be  successfully  occupied  with  the  arts  and  sciences 
unless  we  study  at  the  same  time  the  historical  course  of  their  de- 
velopment, this  is  especially  true  in  regard  of  Music.  This  is 
justly  called  the  most  subjective  among  the  arts,  for,  in  view  the 
incorporeity  of  its  material,  the  quickly  passing  tone,  and  in  the 
absence  of  a  prototype  and  corrective  such  as  the  other  arts  pos- 
sess in  the  visible  world  surrounding  us,  it  seems  impossible  to 
estimate  the  value  of  a  musical  art-work  according  to  fixed  rules , 
and  in  fact,  diversity  of  opinion  witliin  this  sphere  is  not  infre- 
quently so  wide,  that  what  at  one  time  and  in  one  place  is  con- 
sidered beautiful,  other  times  and  other  men  reject  as  ugly.  To 
acquire  therefore  a  solid  foundation  for  musical  judgment  the 
study  of  history  is  the  only  sure  way,  such  a  study,  that  is,  as 
does  not  content  itself  with  simply  taking  cognizance  of  histori- 
cal facts,  but  seeks  to  recognize  these  in  their  inter-connexion 
as  effects  of  general  principles.  Thus  considered,  even  the  seem- 
ingly barren  epochs  of  music-history  will  acquire  significance, 
the  efforts  of  former  generations  will  awaken  sympathy,  even 
when  they  were  not  crowned  with  immediate  success,  and  to  both 
the  past  and  the  onward-pressing  present,  though  their  aims  may 
not  yet  be  clear  to  us,  we  shall  bring  a  better  understanding 
than  would  be  the  case  without  that  assistance. 

In  occupying  ourselves  with  music-history  we  must,  however, 
if  it  is  to  be  really  profitable  to  us,  not  confine  ourselves  to  cer- 


2  ANTIQUITY. 

tain  epochs  corresponding  to  the  sensationary  method*)  peculiar 
to  the  present  time.  In  the  development  of  music  there  are  no  (/ 
leaps;  indeed,  it  can  be  said  that  here  the  connexion  of  the  va- 
rious epochs  of  history  is  more  intimate  than  in  the  other  de- 
partments of  mental  culture.  Not  even  the  deep  gap  between 
the  ancient  and  the  modern  world  availed  to  abolish  this  con- 
nexion, for  the  music-forms  of  the  Greeks  passed  over  almost 
unchanged  into  the  post-christian  music,  and  formed,  as  will  be 
shown  more  at  length  farther  on,  the  basis  of  the  Roman  church- 
song,  upon  which,  again,  at  a  later  period  the  mighty  edifice  of 
modern  music  could  lift  itself  up. 

But  even  in  still  more  remote  times,  among  the  oldest  civ- 
ilized nations  of  the  ancient  world,  manifold  points  present 
themselves  in  which  their  view  of  music  joins  hands  with  that 
of  the  more  modern  nations  —  reason  enough  why  we  should 
not  pass  over  those  earliest  culture- epochs  in  perfect  silence,  as 
sometimes  is  done  in  musico-historical  works  of  smaller  compass, 
f  Through  all  antiquity  runs  the  belief  in  the  divine  origin  of  music 
and  in  its  capacity  to  work  miracles.  Among  the  East-Indians 
Brahma  himself  is  held  to  be  the  creator  of  music,  and  his  son 
Nared  the  inventor  of  the  national  musical  instrument,  the  guitar- 
like  Vina,  just  as  among  the  Greeks  the  origin  of  the  lyre  was! 
traced  to  Hermes,  and  among  the  Egyptians  to  the  god  Thaut. 
If,  according  to  the  Greek  legend,  an  Orpheus  and  an  Amphion 
by  means  of  song  tamed  wild  beasts  and  built  cities,  if  the 
trumpets  of  the  Israelites  had  power  to  overthrow  the  walls  of 
Jericho,  in  the  same  way,  certain  melodies  of  the  East-Indians 
caused  him  who  sang  them  to  be  consumed  by  fire,  others  had 
the  power  of  eclipsing  the  sun,  others,  again,  produced  rain,  of 
which  latter  kind  one,  on  the  occasion  of  a  drought  in  the  rice- 
fields  of  Bengal,  delivered  the  people  from  a  famine. 

The  music-systems  established  by  the  East-Indian  scholars 
exhibit  also  agreement  in  many  points  with  those  of  the  other 
cultured  peoples  of  antiquity.  To  none  of  them,  the  eminently 
gifted  Greeks  not  excepted,  was  it  granted  to  discover  that  which 
to  the  modern  ear  sounds  so  natural  —  the  division  of  the  Octave 

*)  German,  Empfindungsweise,  meaning  the  manner  of  receiving  — 
WBy  one  is  affected  by  —  the  impressions  made  on  the  soul  through  the  senses, 
such  as  the  sight,  hearing,  etc.  Translator. 


ANTIQUITY.  3 

into  twelve  half-steps.  Like  the  Greek  music-theory,  the  East- 
Indian  also  had  the  quarter-step,  and  even  still  finer  tone-differ- 
ences, and,  conformably  to  the  variety  of  the  intervals,  a  great 
number  of  keys,  of  which  the  musicologist  SOMA  names  no  less 
than  nine  hundred  and  sixty.  Just  here,  however,  be  it  observed 
that  the  idea  of  "key"  in  antiquity  was  different  from  the  modern 
one,  and  comprehended  more:  the  scales  of  those  keys  —  which 
latter  should  more  properly  be  called  "tone-combinations"  or  "me- 
lodies" —  are  determined  partly  by  the  starting  of  the  octave- 
series  from  different  degrees  of  the  same  scale  (thus,  e,  g,  from 
the  tones  of  the  C-major  scale,  sung  from  D  to  d,  again  from 
£  to  e  etc.,  but  without  any  chromatic  signs,  six  new  scales 
arise,  each  having  its  own  peculiar  order  of  intervals),  partly  by 
the  modification  of  individual  intervals  by  raising  or  lowering, 
partly  by  overleaping  certain  degrees  of  the  scale.  If  the  acute- 
ness  of  the  Greeks  availed  to  reduce  the  multitude  of  variants 
originating  in  this  way  to  an  easily  intelligible  system,  the  exu- 
berant mind  of  the  Orientals  was  unable  to  distinguish  the  essen- 
tial from  the  accidental,  and  to  discover  a  universal  law  under- 
lying the  countless  tone-combinations. 

In  strong  contrast  with  the  unbridled  fantasticism  of  the 
East-Indians  is  the  rationalistically  sober  nature  of  the  Chinese. 
Qualified  as  they  are  for  all  labors  in  which  success  depends  upon 
unremitting  industry  and  attention,  yet  their  performance  in  those 
departments  in  which  imagination  and  mental  elevation  turn  the 
scale  are  only  of  subordinate  value.  Accordingly,  neither  could 
music  exercise  with  them  that  elevating  and  inspiring  effect  as 
with  the  Orientals,  though  this  did  not  prevent  its  being  highly 
prized  as  a  subject  of  scientific  study  and  also  as  a  means  of 
educating  youth.  In  the  latter  respect  China  shows  itself  in  accord 
with  Greece.  "If  you  would  know"  —  so  runs  a  saying  of  the 
first  of  the  Chinese  philosophers,  CONFUCIUS  (500  years  before 
Christ)  —  "whether  a  country  is  well  governed  and  of  good  mor- 
als, listen  to  its  music".  But  we  find  the  same  opinion  repeatedly 
expressed  by  PLATO  and  ARISTOTLE  :  in  another  point,  too,  the  phi- 
losophers of  Greece  agree  with  those  of  China,  viz.,  in  that  they 
ascribe  to  certain  tone-successions  a  special  fitness  for  educating 
and  ennobling  the  young,  and  put  them  for  this  reason  under  the 
protection  of  the  laws.  —  The  musical  system  of  the  Chinese 


4  ANTIQUITY. 

differs  from  that  of  the  East-Indians  chiefly  by  its  meagerness, 
if  the  latter  revelled  in  a  multitude  of  intervals  so  small  that 
they  would  not  be  recognizable  by  the  modern  ear,  the  Chinese 
went  to  the  other  extreme:  to  them  even  the  diatonic  scale  is 
not  simple  enough,  they  go  farther  and  deprive  it  of  two  of  its 
tones  —  the  Fourth  and  the  Seventh.  But  here  again  is  seen  an 
analogy  of  the  Chinese  with  the  Greek  music,  for  that  scale  of 
the  Chinese,  c  d  e  g  a  c  —  which  C.  M.  VON  WEBER  also  has 
made  the  basis  of  his  overture  to  "Turandot"  —  finds  its  counter- 
part in  that  of  OLYMPUS*,  who,  as  ARISTOXENUS  relates,  omitted 
in  the  minor  scale  the  fourth  and  seventh  degrees,  and,  admiring 
and  adopting  the  scale  constructed  after  this  analogy,  composed 
in  it  melodies  of  the  Doric  key.**  Moreover,  the  effort  to  inter- 
rupt the  strict  diatonic  series  may  be  traced  even  down  to  the 
latest  times;  at  this  very  day  that  scale  with  fourth  and  seventh 
lacking  survives  in  the  national  airs  of  the  Scotch,  and  the  minor 
scale  of  the  Gypsies,  which  has  been  made  known  through  LISZT'S 
"Hungarian  Rhapsodies",  follows,  with  its  twice  occurring  augmented 
second,  the  same  principle. 

The  obstinate  adherence  to  the  traditional,  which  kept  the 
intellectual  life  of  the  Chinese  spell-bound  and  deprived  them  of 
the  fruits  of  a  culture  a  thousand  years  old,  hindered  them  also 
from  farther  perfecting  their  music:  even  Prince  TsAY-Yu,  so 
universally  esteemed  as  music-connoisseur,  could  not  succeed  in 
having  the  two  lacking  half- steps  admitted  into  the  above -de- 
scribed scale  of  five  degrees ;  to  intrude  these  tones  into  the  scale, 
said  his  opponents,  was  the  same  as  to  add  to  the  hand  a  sixth 
and  seventh  finger.  It  was  for  the  same  reason  that  the  Egyptians, 
who  were,  artistically,  incomparably  more  richly  gifted,  were 
obliged  to  stop  half-way  in  the  career  of  their  mental  develop- 
ment. The  high  rank  that  they  held  for  the  time  being  among 
the  civilized  peoples  of  antiquity  is  attested  by  the  artistic  worth 

*  A  famous  musician  of  Phrygia,  of  whom  PLUTARCH  says  that  he  was 
the  first  to  introduce  among  the  Greeks  the  knowledge  of  stringed  instru- 
ments ;  PLATO,  that  his  music  inflamed  his  auditors ;  ARISTOTLE,  that  it  exalted 
the  soul;  and  PLUTARCH,  that  it  surpassed  in  simplicity  all  other  music. 

Translator. 

**  As  we  also  learn  from  ARISTOXENUS,  Olympus  was  on  this  account 
reckoned  the  inventor  of  the  enharmonic  tone-genus,  of  which  mention  will 
be  riade  farther  on,  (p.  20). 


ANTIQUITY.  5 

of  their  numerous  monuments  which  have  been  preserved  to 
posterity,  as  also  by  the  influence  that  they  exercised  upon  the 
scientific  and  artistic  culture  of  the  nations  around  them,  as,  for 
instance,  when  the  most  celebrated  investigators  of  Greece,  a 
PYTHAGORAS,  a  HERODOTUS,  and,  as  late  as  the  fourth  century  be- 
fore Christ,  a  PLATO,  did  not  shrink  from  the  voyage  across  the 
sea  in  order  to  have  a  share  in  the  Egyptian  philosophies.  It  is 
true  that  at  PLATO'S  time  mental  activity  among  the  Egyptians 
seems  to  have  come  to  a  halt,  as  we  may  conclude  from  the  fol- 
lowing passage  in  the  second  book  of  his  "Laws":  "Is  it  allowed" 
(he  asks)  "that  everything  which  to  a  poet  appears  beautiful  in 
a  poem  or  a  song,  should  also  be  taught  to  the  young?  This  is 
allowed  everywhere  except  in  Egypt.  —  But  why  is  this  not 
allowed  in  Egypt?  —  This  is  indeed  to  be  wondered  at.  To  the 
Egyptians,  however,  it  had  long  been  known  that  the  young  in 
the  cities  should  be  accustomed  only  to  beautiful  forms  and  to 
good  music;  but  what  should  be  the  nature  of  the  beautiful 
forms  and  good  music  is  determined  by  their  priests,  and  to 
neither  painters  nor  musicians  nor  other  artists  is  it  permitted 
to  introduce  anything  new,  differing  from  those  patterns  which 
have  been  once  recognized  as  beautiful.  Thence  it  comes  also  that 
their  paintings  and  statues  which  were  executed  ten  thousand 
years  ago  are  in  not  a  single  point  better  or  worse  than  those 
which  are  made  at  the  present  day".  But  with  this  the  death - 
sentence  of  the  arts  was  pronounced;  for,  as  soon  as  it  is  for- 
bidden to  surpass  the  ancients,  to  enlarge  the  boundaries  of  art 
and  give  sanction  to  new  laws,  self-evidently  the  creative  faculty 
must  become  extinct  and  intellectual  stagnation  must  take  its 
place.  That  notwithstanding  all  this,  music  occupied  an  important 
place  in  the  public  and  private  life  of  the  Egyptians,  is  shown 
by  the  figurative  representations,  which  have  been  discovered  in 
the  royal  sepulchres  and  on  other  monuments,  of  singers  and  in- 
strumentalists, now  individually,  now  united  in  choirs  and  orches- 
tras, as  also  by  the  variety  of  the  instruments  there  depicted, 
among  which  the  many-stringed  harp  appears  oftenest  and  gives 
proof  of  the  luxuriant,  pompous  character  of  the  music.  Yet  all 
endeavors  to  enrich  music  outwardly  afford  no  compensation  for 
the  lack  of  interior  productiveness.  In  the  history  of  music  Egypt 
may  take  only  a  subordinate  position  compared  with  the  Hebrews 


6  ANTIQUITY. 

and  Greeks,  the  two  nations  of  antiquity  which,  to  be  sure,  re- 
ceived from  the  Egyptians  the  impulse  to  intellectual  activity, 
but  by  their  own  strength  were  soon  to  far  surpass  their  pattern 
in  one  way  or  another. 

The  influence  exercised  by  Egypt  on  Grecian  culture  is  espe- 
cially clearly  noticeable  in  the  works  of  fine  art  of  the  earliest 
development-period  of  Greece,  as  for  example  in  the  so-called 
Apollo  of  Tenea  which  exhibits  outright  the  Egyptian  type.  Still 
more  important  must  have  been  this  influence  on  the  culture  of 
the  Jewish  nation,  whose  ancestors  had  as  poor  nomads  taken 
refuge  among  the  Egyptians,  and  were  compelled  to  dwell  with 
them  for  centuries  in  a  condition  of  dependence.  During  the 
short  national  independence  which  the  Hebrews  enjoyed  after- 
wards, there  was  developed  among  them  also  a  peculiar  art  whose 
significance  for  the  public  worship  as  also  for  the  social  life  is 
unmistakably  evidenced  by  the  countless  statements  referring 
thereto  in  the  Old  Testament.  This  temporary  upward  flight 
was,  however,  followed  by  centuries  of  political  dependence  upon 
nations  of  a  comparatively  high  civilization,  during  which  time 
the  artistic  acquisitions  of  that  short  epoch  of  freedom  were  of 
necessity  gradually  lost,  till  at  length  Greek  culture,  overflowing 
everything,  impressed  its  seal  upon  Judaism  also.  Certainly,  the 
Hebrews  have  cultivated  one  side  of  their  nature  with  a  con- 
sistency which  is  rare  in  the  history  of  nations;  their  attention 
rather  to  the  inner  man  than  to  the  exterior  life,  and  the  conse- 
quent purer  and  higher  theory  of  life  which  steadfastly  resisted 
all  the  hostile  influences  of  the  surrounding  peoples,  —  these  suffi- 
ciently attest  the  peculiarity  of  the  Jewish  national  spirit  and 
account  for  the  interest  which  has  in  all  ages  been  taken  in  the 
history  of  its  development.  But  it  is  precisely  these  peculiarities 
of  the  Hebrews  that  must  raise  doubt  as  to  the  artistic  endow- 
ment of  the  latter;  moreover,  a  study  in  detail  of  the  ancient 
Hebrew  music  cannot  be  remunerative,  for  the  very  reason  that 
concerning  the  nature  of  the  latter  as  good  as  nothing  has  been 
communicated  to  us  by  contemporary  writers,  and  besides,  of  mon- 
uments, such  as  give  information  of  the  history  of  other  peoples, 
there  is  in  the  Jewish  country  an  utter  lack.* 

*  As  the  only  monument  of  Jewish  antiquity  we  may  regard  the  relief 
in  the  interior  of  the  triumphal  arch  of  Titus,  at  Rome,  in  which,  in  the  pro- 


ANTIQUITY.  7 

If,  accordingly,  we  may  obtain  a  somewhat  clear  idea  of  the 
Hebrew  music  only  mediately,  through  the  study  of  Egyptian  and 
Babylonian  antiquities,  we  have  immediate  and  copious  informa- 
tion concerning  the  music  of  the  Greeks,  in  their  writings  and 
monuments.  Under  far  more  favorable  conditions  than  in  the  case 
of  the  Hebrews  they  could  undertake  to  develop  according  to  the 
national  taste  the  elements  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  handed  down 
by  the  Egyptians.  Their  teachable  nature  was  assisted  by  the 
geographical  situation  of  their  country;  the  facility  of  maritime 
intercourse  induced  them  at  an  early  period  to  open  communica- 
tions, with  a  view  to  the  exchange  of  material  and  intellectual 
goods,  with  the  seaboard  peoples  of  the  Mediterranean,  to  some 
extent  their  superiors  in  culture.  This  intercourse  was  also  to 
conduce  to  the  development  of  their  musical  faculties;  the  impulse 
to  theoretical  speculation  they  received  chiefly  from  Egypt,  where 
even  in  the  remotest  antiquity  music  was  cultivated  in  connexion 
with  mathematical  and  astronomical  investigations;  their  practical 
music,  on  the  other  hand,  was  influenced  preeminently  by  the 
connexions  with  Asia  Minor,  for  from  this  country  Greece  re- 
ceived, with  the  grape-culture  and  the  Bacchus-worship,  also  the 
wildly  passionate  music  belonging  to  it,  accompanied  as  it  was 
with  shrill  and  far-sounding  wind-instruments.  This  music  being 
blended  with  the  indigenous  music,  arranged  according  to  strict 
proportion,  the  cooperation  of  their  heterogeneous  elements  called 
into  existence  that  national  music  of  whose  elevating  power  the 
ancient  writers  give  testimony  in  many  places,  and  which  attained 
its  highest  effect  in  tragedy. 

If  we  accept  WESTPHAL'S*  opinion  as  the  correct  one,  accord- 
ing to  which  in  the  jifutent  tragedy  not  only  the  choruses  but 
also  the  monologes  and  dialogues  were  recited  musically,  and 
it  at  all  events  "approached  more  closely  to  our  modern  opera 
than  to  our  reciting  drama",  this  art-species  may  rightfully  claim 
the  special  attention  of  the  music-historian.  The  story  of  its 
development  is  sketched  in  a  few  words.  It  takes  its  origin,  ac- 
cording to  the  statement  of  DROYSEN  (in  his  "Didaskalien  zum 

cession  of  Jewish  captives,  among  other  sacred  treasures  of  the  Temple  of  Je- 
ni<alem  is  carried  also  the  metal  wind-instrument  of  the  Jews,  mentioned  in 
the  Old  Testament  under  the  name  of  SCHOFAR  or  KEREN. 

•  RUDOLPH  WESTPHAL,  Greek  Rhythmics  and  Harmonics. 


g  ANTIQUITY. 

'Aischylos'")  from  the  festivals  celebrated  at  the  time  of  the  vin- 
tage in  honor  of  Bacchus,  at  which,  amid  impassioned  songs  a 
goat  was  offered  to  the  god.*  Choruses  and  dancing  of  the  par- 
ticipants of  the  festival  disguised  as  satyrs,  whose  leader  recited 
in  song  during  the  pauses  the  sufferings  of  the  god,  formed  the 
principal  element  of  these  rural  festivals,  which  with  the  advance- 
ment of  civilization  attracted  the  attention  of  the  cities  also,  and 
soon  assumed  an  artistic  form.  THESPIS  (about  600  B.  C.)  was  the 
first  to  infuse  into  them  the  dramatic  element,  by  bringing  the 
narrator  into  a  determinate  relation  to  the  chorus;  he  likewise 
regulated  the  movements  of  the  chorus  and  gave  it  a  costume 
corresponding  to  the  subject  of  the  action.  If  these  artistic  inno- 
vations of  THESPIS  found,  on  the  one  hand,  violent  adversaries, 
for  example  in  the  law-giver  SOLON,  yet  the  great  public  seems  to 
have  recognized  his  efforts,  as  we  may  conclude  from  his  art-tours, 
on  which  he  is  said  to  have  carried  his  properties  with  him  on 
a  cart  —  that  Thespis-cart,  the  memory  of  which,  as  symbol  of  a 
travelling  troupe  of  players,  is  preserved  to  this  day. 

A  series  of  advances  was  still  necessary  before  Tragedy  ar- 
rived at  that  degree  of  exterior  and  interior  perfection  in  which  we 
find  it  at  the  time  of  AESCHYLUS.  But  all  the  improvements  that 
it  experienced  during  those  years  of  development,  the  perfecting 
of  the  arts  of  dancing  and  gesture,  the  introduction  of  a  second 
actor  and  herewith  of  dialogue,  the  use  of  the  mask  and  the 
buskin,  which  seemed  necessary  for  making  the  outward  show 
harmonize  with  the  majestic  representations  that  people  made  to 
themselves  of  the  heroes,  —  all  this  does  not  suffice  to  explain 
the  powerful  effect  that  AESCHYLUS'  tragedy  produced  on  the  minds 
of  the  Greeks.  This  effect  had  its  real  cause  rather  in  the  national 
upsoaring  of  Greece  resulting  from  the  heroic  prosecution  of  the 
Persian  wars,  as  also  in  the  deeply  religious  sensationary  method 
of  the  Grecian  people  who  at  that  time  had  not  yet  forgotten  the 
original  significance  of  tragedy  as  an  act  of  divine  worship.  The 
philosophy  of  that  age,  whose  aim  was  the  investigation  of  divine 
things,  the  poetic  strain  in  which  it  set  forth  its  doctrines,  nou- 
rished the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  for  the  lofty  and  sublime, 

*  The  Greek  word  for  "tragedy"  —  Tragodia  —  is  compounded  from 
Tragos"  a  goat,  and  "Ode"  a  song;  hence  signifies  literally  "song  at  the 
sacrifice  of  the  goat" 


Y.  9 

and  just  as  poetizing  and  thinking  (reasoning),  the  diametrical 
opposites  among  the  mental  activities,*  met  in  the  works  of  the 
philosophers,  so  also  in  the  dramas  of  AESCHYLUS.  If,  moreover, 
it  be  remembered  that  he  himself  repeatedly  staked  his  life  on 
the  battle-field  for  the  honor  of  his  native  land,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  understand  the  severity  of  his  ethical  conceptions,  his  firm  ad- 
herence to  the  poet's  mission  "to  teach  the  citizens  virtue  and 
right".  So  little  as  the  prophets  of  Israel  their  powerful  exhorta- 
tions —  observes  DROYSEN  —  did  he  compose  his  dramas  for  mere 
esthetic  reasons.  They  were  to  him  sermons  to  his  people,  and 
only  in  this  view  have  the  seriousness  of  his  thoughts,  the  gloomy 
magnificence  of  his  language,  the  deeply  passionate  repose  of  his 
theory  of  life,  their  whole  power. 

It  was  necessary  to  sketch  a  picture  of  the  poet  AESCHYLUS, 
in  order  to  form  an  idea  of  his  merits  as  musician,  since  as 
regards  the  latter  point  nothing  more  is  known  than  that  he  was 
also  the  musical  composer  of  his  dramas,  as,  generally  speaking, 
antiquity  applies  the  word  "poet"  (poietes)  to  him  only  who  com- 
bines in  his  person  the  poet  and  the  musician.  Concerning  the 
nature  of  his  music  we  can  speak  by  way  of  conjecture  only,  yet 
we  may  assume  with  some  certainty  that  in  strict  adhesion  to 
the  rhythm  of  the  verse  it  was  like  our  recitative  or  the  chant 
of  the  Roman  liturgy,  whose  formulas  are  modelled  after  the  ca- 
dence of  ordinary  speech  and  are  rooted  in  primeval  traditions. 
If,  accordingly,  the  music  of  AESCHYLUS'  tragedy  is  hardly  to  be 
compared,  in  point  of  variety  and  absoluteness,  with  the  modern 
music,  this  defect  of  the  tone-language  was  doubtless  counter- 
balanced by  wealth  of  musical  elements  in  the  spoken  language** 

•  "The  object  of  Poetry",  —  Bays  Lord  BULWEK,  in  his  translation  of 
Si  nii.i.Kii's  Poems  and  Ballads  —  "differing  essentially  from  that  of  abstract 
Wisdom,  is  not  directly  to  address  the  reasoning  faculty  —  but  insensibly  to 
rouse  it  through  the  popular  medium  of  the  emotions.  *  *  *  •  The  fault  of 
certain  of  SCHILLER'S  poems  .which  he  names)  "is,  that  they  strain  too  much 
the  faculty  with  which  Poetry  has  least  to  do,  viz.,  the  mere  reason",  etc. 

Translator. 

**  By  musical  elements  of  speech  are  meant  the  so-called  onomato-poetie 
words,  «.  e.,  such  as  indicate  their  meaning  by  their  sound  alone,  as,  ding- 
dong,  thunder,  cuckoo,  buzz,  howl,  hiss,  tick-tack  etc.,  in  distinction  to  those 
whose  meaning  is  conventional  and  which  become  intelligible  to  us  only 
through  education,  as  is  the  case  with  all  words  not  included  in  the  species 


JO  ANTIQUITY. 

(in  its  then  stage  of  development).  It  may  even  be  assumed  that 
the  artistic  effect  of  AESCHYLUS'  dramas  is  chiefly  due  to  the  equi- 
librium that  prevailed  between  the  language  of  emotions  and  that 
of  ideas,  between  tone  and  speech,  a  relation  that  is  possible  only 
at  a  time  when  neither  one  nor  the  other  is  yet  compelled  by  the 
degree  of  its  development  to  follow  special  paths. 

This  relation  of  equilibrium  was,  however,  not  to  exist  long. 
As  early  as  SOPHOCLES'  time  the  "gloomy  magnificence"  of  AESCHY- 
LUS' poetry  gives  way  to  a  clearer,  more  determinate  manner  of 
expression,  but  EURIPIDES  exhibits  himself  so  predominantly  as 
word-poet  that  we  can  easily  understand  his  determination  to  leave 
the  musical  setting  of  his  tragedies  to  another,  a  musician  by  pro- 
fession. In  intimate  connexion  with  this  poetico-musical  trans- 
formation is  the  tendency,  inaugurated  about  the  middle  of  the 
5th  century  B.  C.,  of  the  Grecian  philosophy.  The  now  generally 
accepted  Sophistic  philosophy  no  longer  —  unlike  the  previous 
schools  —  regards  the  universe,  generally  and  collectively,  but 
man,  considered  in  himself  alone,  as  the  worthiest  object  of 
investigation;  but  in  order  to  fathom  the  human  soul  a  suitable 
language  is  the  first  requisite,  and  the  cultivation  of  such  a  one, 
as  also  of  grammar,  of  the  art  of  consistent  thinking  and  of  oral 
interchange  of  thought  (of  logic  and  of  dialectics)  was  of  necessity 
a  matter  of  primary  importance  to  the  disciples  of  sophistic  phi- 


first  mentioned.  The  history  of  the  development  of  language  shows  how,  with 
the  progress  of  that  development,  the  former  element  was  more  and  more 
supplanted  by  the  second.  "At  the  beginning"  says  R.  WAGNER  (Collective 
Writings  and  Poems,  article  "Music  of  the  Future")  "the  formation  of  the 
conception  of  an  object  was  almost  identical  with  the  subjective  sensation 
of  it,  and  the  assumption  that  the  first  human  language  must  have  been  very 
similar  to  song  would  perhaps  not  seem  ridiculous.  From  a  signification  of 
words  which  was  felt  in  a  manner  in  any  case  altogether  sensuously  subjec- 
tive, human  language  evolved  itself  in  a  more  and  more  abstract  sense,  in 
such  a  way  that  finally  but  a  merely  conventional  meaning  of  the  words  re- 
mained, which  deprived  sensation  of  any  share  in  understanding  them,  while 
at  the  same  time  their  construction  was  made  utterly  dependent  on  rules  which 
had  to  be  learned."  It  need  not  be  proved,  that  a  language  that  has  reached 
such  a  stage  of  development  and  is,  so  to  speak,  half  torpid,  is  incomparably 
less  favorable  to  the  flight  of  poetic  fancy  than  in  the  condition  of  youthful 
flexibility,  and  that  the  revivification  of  the  "musical"  elements  that  have 
been  lost  to  language,  must  be  for  poetry,  especially  when  intended  to  be 
joined  with  music,  of  very  great  advantage.  Compare  Chap.  VII  of  this  work. 


ANTIQUITY.  1 1 

losophy.  These  endeavors  had  the  twofold  result  of  promoting 
knowledge  and  of  rendering  more  and  more  intimate  the  rela- 
tions of  man  to  man.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  without  good 
grounds  that  the  predicate  "sophistical"  is  at  the  present  day 
applied  in  a  reproachful  sense  only;  for  as  mastery  in  these  arts 
of  logic  and  rhetoric  became  greater  and  greater,  virtuosity  was 
made  the  chief  thing  among  the  sophists,  to  that  degree  that 
language  had  to  serve  less  frequently  for  the  investigation  of  truth 
than  for  dialectic  sham  fights.  To  what  extent  eloquence  had  at 
this  time  become  an  end  to  itself  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  one 
of  those  virtuosos  of  oratory  undertook  on  his  art-travels  to  speak, 
in  two  discourses  in  immediate  succession,  once  for,  the  second 
time  against  one  and  the  same  thing. 

In  consequence  of  this  catastrophe  music  could  no  longer 
retain  the  high  place  it  had  till  then  taken  in  the  life  of  the 
Greeks.  Language  no  longer  needed,  for  the  aims  it  now  pursued, 
the  cooperation  of  musical  tone.  But  meanwhile  in  the  domain 
of  music  a  similar  process  of  development  had  been  gone  through: 
a  new  species  of  poetry,  ca^ed,  after  the  instrument  used  by  the 
poet  for  accompanying  his  recitation,  lyric,  had  attained  among 
the  Greeks,  especially  the  lonians  inhabiting  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor,  a  high  degree  of  cultivation.  In  contradistinction  to  the 
choral  songs,  which  express  the  sentiments  of  a  universality,  in 
the  poems  of  the  Ionian  lyrist,  of  an  Arion,  a  Sappho,  an  Ana- 
creon,  the  individual  sentiments,  the  moods  of  the  multifariously 
agitated  particular  soul  attain  to  artistic  representation.  Here  music 
could  and  had  to  play  an  incomparably  more  important  part  than 
in  the  other  species  of  poetry,  here  it  was  seen  to  be,  in  the  faculty 
of  expressing  the  most  secret  emotions  of  the  soul,  superior  to 
spoken  language.  And,  just  as  language,  with  its  ever  increasing 
power  of  expression,  could  dispense  with  the  association  of  music, 
so  also  music  now  began  to  withdraw  from  words,  to  follow 
thenceforth  its  own  way,  -  -  according  to  HERDER'S  expression  "a 
dangerous  separation  for  the  defenceless  human  race;  for  music 
without  words  transplants  us  into  a  realm  of  obscure  ideas;  it 
awakens,  in  each  one  after  its  fashion,  feelings  slumbering  in 
the  heart,  which  in  the  torrent  or  the  tide  of  artificial  tones  without 
words  find  no  guide  or  leader"  (Zur  schb'nen  Litteratur  vnd  Kuntt, 
Part  XVI,  p.  33).  From  this  time  forward  instrumental  music 


1 2  ANTIQUITY. 

developed  itself  as  a  particular  species;  lyre  and  "aulos"  — 
the  latter  generally  anglicised  as  "flute",  but  in  form  and  tone 
more  closely  corresponding  to  our  clarinet  or  oboe  —  appear  as 
solo-instruments  in  the  musaic  contests,  and  in  one  of  the  Pythian 
games  instrumental  virtuosity,  in  the  person  of  the  flutistjSAKADAS, 
who  even  undertook  to  represent  in  tones  Apollo's  fight  with  the 
serpent,  celebrates  a  brilliant  triumph.. 

To  account  fully  for  the  short  duration  of  the  palmy  days  of 
Greek  art  we  must  once  more  refer  to  the  effects  of  the  sophistic 
philosophy  and  its  principles,  closely  allied  as  they  were  to  scep- 
ticism. "Man  is  the  measure  of  all  things.  As  any  thing  seems 
to  any  one,  so  it  is  for  him.  Only  relative  truth  exists.  The 
existence  of  the  gods  is  uncertain"  —  such  is  the  assertion  of 
one  of  its  chiefs,  PROTAGORAS;  but  nothing  could  be  more  inimical 
to  artistic  enthusiasm  than  the  axiomatic  tendency  to  doubt  that  is 
here  expressed;  in  a  special  manner  the  esteem  for  tragedy,  which, 
conformably  to  its  origin,  was  regarded  as  an  act  of  divine  wor- 
ship, must  have  decreased  in  proportion  as  the  religious  belief 
of  the  people  was  shaken.  After  the  leadership  in  Greece  had, 
upon  the  close  of  the  Peloponnesian  war  (B.  C.  404),  been  trans- 
ferred from  Athens  to  Sparta,  the  art-creative  faculty  of  the  Gre- 
cian people  gradually  died  out,  and  became  totally  extinct  coin- 
cidently  with  the  loss  ot  the  national  independence  resulting  from 
the  victory  of  Philip  of  Macedon.  at  Chsefonea  (B.  C.  328, .  The 
preservation  of  that  which  previous  generations  had  created  now 
becomes  the  mission  of  the  Grecian  mind;  making  poetry  gives 
way  to  speculative  thought,  artistic  practice  to  theory  and  the 
structure  of  systems.  Musical  theory  also  finds  its  representatives, 
the  most  prominent  of  whom  was  ARISTOXENUS,  surnamed  "the 
musician",  the  first  one  to  recognize  the  hearing  as  the  sole  cri- 
terion of  tone-relationships,  in  opposition  to  the  school  of  PYTHA- 
GORAS, £[hich,  as  in  everything  else  so  also  in  music,  made  num- 
ber exclusively  the  regulating  principle.  Of  the  musjxj-systems 
which  then  arose  we  shall  give  farther  on,  in  passing  over  to 
speak  of  the  modern  music,  begotten  of  those  systems,  the  most 
important  details;  at  present  we  will  close  our  survey  of  the 
musical  achievements  of  antiquity  with  the  Roman  empire. 

If  it  was  the  mission  of  Greece,  as  antitype  and  teacher  to 
show  the  world  the  way  —  as  ISOCRATES  the  orator  once  expresses 


ANTIQUITY.  1 3 

himself  —  the  aim  of  the  Romans  was,  before  everything  else, 
to  win  and  consolidate  material  dominion.  It  was,  accordingly, 
above  all  things  practical  and  political  problems  whose  solution 
was  to  occupy  them,  the  artistic  ones  could  not,  along  side  of  the 
others,  find  any  consideration.  And  when  at  lenght  they  had  ac- 
complished their  supreme  end,  the  sovereignty  over  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  which  were  known  to  them,  it  was  now  too  late  to 
make  up  for  what  they  had  neglected  in  the  domain  of  ideas: 
Rome  had  at  all  times  to  be  content  to  satisfy  its  artistic  require- 
ments by  borrowing  from  friendly  nations,  especially  from  Greece. 
This  was  in  fact  done  at  the  time  of  the  emperors  on  a  magnif- 
icent scale;  just  as  the  globe  was  pillaged  in  order  to  heap  up 
the  works  of  plastic  art  of  all  schools  and  all  lands  in  the  public 
squares  and  the  palaces  of  Rome,  so  too  the  city  became  a  rally- 
ing-point  of  the  musicians  also  of  all  the  nations  subject  to  the 
empire.  The  feeling  for  massive  effects  appears  to  have  been  pre- 
dominant among  the  musical  public  of  Rome,  for  as  early  as 
JULIUS  CESAR'S  time  SUETONIUS  narrates  that  once  during  a  public 
solemnity  twelve  thousand  male  and  female  singers  and  players 
sojourned  in  the  city;  and  HORACE  complains  at  the  time  of  AU- 
GUSTUS "that  the  modest  flute  with  few  holes,  which  satisfied  the 
fathers,  was  forced,  on  account  of  the  great  dimensions  of  the 
playhouses  of  his  time,  to  give  way  to  noisy  instruments." 

If  this  musical  tendency,  whose  aim  was  powerful  effect,  can 
in  no  wise  awaken  our  interest,  it  must  excite  downright  disgust 
to  see  art  dragged  through  the  mire  as  it  was  under  the  emperor 
NERO,  who  had,  as  is  well  known,  among  other  hallucinations  that 
of  publicly  figuring  as  virtuoso  in  singing  and  on  the  harp.  His 
voice  was  so  unmusical  and  his  delivery  so  abominable,  that  on 
his  first  appearance  (A.  D.  60  the  listeners  knew  not  whether  to 
laugh  or  to  weep,  and  it  was  only  by  the  help  of  a  well-organised 
claque  that  the  expressions  of  displeasure  could  be  smothered.  He 
afterwards  undertook  an  art-journey  to  Greece,  where  he  caused 
himself  to  be  crowned  with  every  prize  that  he  could  in  any  way 
lay  his  hands  on,  without  meeting  with  any  opposition  what- 
ever —  a  sad  evidence  of  the  demoralization  that  had  invaded 
this  soil  which  had  once  been  consecrated  by  the  muses.  Soon 
after  this,  however,  NERO'S  fantastic  artist-career  was  to  come  to 
and  end.  In  the  year  60,  A.  D.,  GALBA  was  proclaimed  emperor. 


14  ANTIQUITY. 

and  nothing  remained  for  NERO  but  to  take  his  own  life,  at  the 
age  of  thirty  —  a  life  which  disgraced  not  only  him  but  also 
his  contemporaries,  whose  servility  not  even  their  artistic  con- 
science kept  within  limits. 

Under  such  circumstances  it  could  be  only  a  gain  for  human- 
ity that  the  torch  of  the  ancient  civilization,  that  had  so  long 
lightened  the  world,  was  at  length  extinguished,  when  the  Roman 
colossus  at  the  first  impact  of  the  barbarians  bursting  in  from 
the  North  fell  in  ruins.  The  bright  light  radiated  from  Greece 
had,  it  is  true,  to  be  followed  for  a  century  long  by  darkness 
yet  during  this  period  of  seeming  stagnation  a  new  spirit  and 
new  forms  were  to  attain  their  development,  and  most  especially 
with  reference  to  music  we  may  apply  in  this  case  the  words  of 
SCHILLER: 

"The  Ancient,  crumbling,  falls;  the  times  are  changed, 
And  new  life  blooms  and  springs  up  from  the  ruins." 


II. 

THE  MUSIC  OF  THE  EARLY  CHRISTIAN  AGE. 


The  mighty  revolution  that  with  the  introduction  and  pro- 
pagation of  Christianity  took  place  in  all  the  domains  of  the  in- 
tellectual life,  necessarily  brought  with  it  in  its  train  a  funda- 
mental change  in  art-theories  also.  Yet  here  the  new  spirit  ia 
manifested  at  first  with  diffidence  only:  just  as  Greece  had  in  the 
infantile  stage  of  its  artistic  development  most  closely  followed 
Egypt,  so  now  the  early  Christian  civilization  leans  upon  that  of 
the  Greeks.  In  this  epoch  also  it  is  plastic  art  that  affords  us 
the  positive  evidence  of  the  absolute  dependence  of  the  younger 
upon  the  elder  civilization ;  the  paintings  in  the  Roman  catacombs, 
in  which  the  early  Christians  met  for  purposes  of  divine  worship, 
exhibit  everywhere  the  familiar  figures  and  situations  of  the  an- 
cient mythology  and  fable  applied  to  the  illustration  of  biblical 
events;  Orpheus,  taming  wild  beasts,  answers  with  slight  modifi- 
cation for  Daniel  in  the  lions'  den;  Hermes  carrying  the  goat,  a 
type  often  reproduced  by  the  Greek  artists,  for  the  Good  Shep- 
herd carrying  home  the  stray  lamb  on  his  shoulders;  Jonah  and 
the  whale  that  spat  him  out  are  scarcely  distinguishable  from  Anon 
and  his  dolphin.  To  assume  a  higher  degree  of  independence  in 
the  music  of  the  first  Christians  would  be  in  no  wise  justifiable; 
the  testimonies  of  contemporary  writers  afford,  in  the  absence  of 
musical  documents  of  that  period,  ample  proofs  of  the  contrary. 
For,  if  PLINY  the  younger  relates  of  the  Christian  congregationi 
of  his  time  "that  they  sing  to  Christ,  as  to  a  god,  an  antiphonal 
hymn",  and  the  Jewish  scholar  PHILO,  residing  at  Alexandria,  says 
of  the  Therapeutae  and  Essenes,  two  sects  converted  to  Christian- 
ity by  the  Apostles  themselves,  that  they  accompanied  their 


16  THE  MUSIC  OF  THE    EARLY    CHRISTIAN   AGE. 

liturgical  song  with  religious  gestures,  with  steps  forward  and 
backward,  all  this  points  to  an  immediate  connexion  with  the 
music  and  mimic  art  of  the  Greek  tragedy.  It  may  perhaps  be 
assumed  that  from  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  it  was  the 
earnest  desire  of  the  disciples  of  the  new  religion  to  simplify  the 
Greek  music,  which  had  become  more  and  more  voluptuous  — 
one  of  the  earliest  of  the  fathers  of  the  Church,  CLEMENT  OF  AL- 
EXANDRIA (towards  the  end  of  the  2d  century),  on  this  account  for- 
bade the  members  of  his  congregation  the  use  of  the  chromatic 
tone-series  in  the  music  of  the  church,  —  on  the  whole,  however, 
it  may  be  conjectured  that  the  chant  of  the  first  Christians, 
though  filled  with  a  new  spirit,  was  nevertheless  as  to  its  form 
a  faithful  copy  of  the  ancient  music. 

Nor  did  the  introduction  of  Christianity  as  state  religion 
under  Constantine  the  Great,  A.  D.  333,  avail  to  bring  about  a 
sudden  change  in  the  musical  situation;  even  under  the  political 
conditions  which  the  migration  of  nations  (A.  D.  375)  had  totally 
altered,  the  power  of  Greek  civilization  appears  yet  unbroken. 
That  the  time  was  not  yet  come  to  exchange  it  for  another  the 
so-called  barbarians  may  very  likely  have  felt;  for  with  few  ex- 
ceptions they  were  by  no  means  wanting  in  reverence  for  the 
civilization  of  the  old  world;  as  also  they  are  on  the  whole  to 
be  held  far  less  answerable  for  the  ravages  and  devastations  com- 
mitted at  that  time  than  the  Romans,  demoralized  by  centuries 
of  corruption,  among  whom  avarice  and  frivolity  had  stifled  every 
feeling  of  veneration  for  their  glorious  past.  But  of  all  the  peoples 
that  about  the  middle  of  the  first  Christian  century  overran  Italy, 
the  Goths,  as  being  indisputably  the  most  gifted  among  them, 
deserve  the  most  esteem;  especially  did  the  reign  of  their  king 
THEODORIC  (died  A.  D.  520)  in  those  days  of  wild  ferment  exert  a 
wholesome  influence  on  the  reorganization  of  affairs.  In  the 
history  of  music  likewise  his  name  deserves  to  be  mentioned;  at 
his  court  resided  the  musicographers,  BOETHIUS  and  CASSIODORUS, 
the  last  scientific  representatives  of  antiquity;  the  former  highly 
esteemed  even  up  to  the  end  of  the  Middle  Age  as  a  musical 
authority,  although  he  made  his  appearance  only  as  translator  and 
expounder  of  the  older  Greek  music;  the  other,  CASSIODORUS,  to 
be  reckoned  among  Christian  authors,  in  so  far  at  least  as  he 
was  converted  in  old  age  to  Christianity.  That  the  fame  of 


THE    MUSIC   OF   THE    KAKLY   CHRISTIAN   AGE.  17 

TIILODOUIC  as  a  connoisseur  of  art  extended  far  beyond  the  borders 
of  his  kingdom  is  evidenced  —  not  to  give  other  proofs  —  by  the 
petition  addressed  to  him  by  the  Prankish  king  CLOVIS  to  send  him 
a  citherode*  who  might  domesticate  in  his  country  also  the  art 
—  so  greatly  flourishing  in  Italy  —  of  singing  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  the  cithara.  It  was  BOETHIUS  who  received  from  THEO- 
DORIC,  with  the  most  flattering  compliments,  the  commission  to 
select  the  artists  most  fitted  for  that  purpose. 

With_B9ETHTDs,  who  afterwards  fell  into  disgrace  with  his 
king,  and,  being  accused  of  participation  in  a  conspiracy  of  the 
Roman  national  party  against  the  Gothic  rule,  was  executed  (A. 
D.  524)  at  Pavia,  the  mission  of  antiquity  in  respect  to  the  pro- 
gress of  civilization  had  come  to  an  end.  But  before  turning  to 
the  musical  reconstructions  now  inaugurated,  let  us  make  brief 
mention  of  the  Greek  music-system,  on  which  they  are  based. 
The  foundation  of  this  system  is  not,  as  with  the  moderns,  the 
eight-tone  series,  or  Octave,  but  a  series  of  four  tones  in  the 
compass  of  a  minor**  Fourth,  the  Tetrachord,  whose  origin  is  to 
be  traced  to  the  four-stringed  lyre.  The  Tetrachord,  which  inva- 
riably includes  two  progressions  of  a  step***  and  one  of  a  half- 
step,f  is  differently  named  according  to  the  relative  position  of 
this  half-step,  viz:  Doric  (when  the  latter  is  at  the  bottom,  as: 
ff  —  g  —  a),  Phrygian  (when  in  the  middle,  as :  d  —  ef  — g),  or 
Lydian  (when  at  the  top,  as:  c  —  d  —  ef).  From  the  junction 
of  two  tetrachords  of  the  same  species  arise  the  (respectively  Doric, 
Phrygian,  Lydian)  Octave  species  (Harraonia)  — 

DORIC. 


£ 


•  From  the  Greek  Kitharodos,    one   who  accompanies  his  singing  by 
playing  on  the  cithara,  a  stringed  instrument  most  resembling  the  guitar. 

Translator. 

••  The  word  "minor"  is  here  used  preferably  to,  and  as  identical  with, 
the  old-fashioned  expression  "perfect"  to  which  corresponds  the  word  "rein" 
in  the  German  original).  See  my  Primer  of  Modern  Tonality,  3d  edition,  Note 
p.  53.  Translator. 

•**  Formerly  called  "tone",  or  "whole-tone".  Translator. 

t  Formerly  called  "half-tone"   or  "semitone".  Translator 

2 


IS  THE  MUSIC  OF  THE  EAELY  CHRISTIAN  AGE. 

PHRYGIAN. 


LYDIAN. 


•*"      & 


to  which  were  subsequently  added  four  more,  respectively  begin- 
ning on  the  remaining  tones  of  the  diatonic  scale.  In  the  above 
examples  we  find  (at  the*)  a  whole  step  between  the  two  tetra- 
chords;  this  was  called  disjunctive  union.  But  a  union  may  also 
be  effected  conjunctively  —  as  the  expression  was  —  by  making 
the  highest  tone  of  the  lower  tetrachord  form  at  the  same  time 
the  lowest  one  of  the  upper,  and  this  procedure,  applied  to  the 
Doric  tetrachord,  gave  rise  to  a  new  system,  viz:  to  the  Doric 
octave-species  were  added  a  tetrachord  below  (b  c  d  e)  and  one 
above  (e  f  g  a),  and  lastly,  this  series  composed  of  two  tetrachord- 
pairs  was  completed  by  adding  the  low  a  (called  "Proslambano- 
menos",  i.  e.,  the  accessory  tone),  as  in  the  following  example- 


Thus  was  gained  a  two-octave  minor  scale,  a  system  substantially 
differing  from  the  octave-species  in  that  it  can  —  like  the  modern 
major  and  minor  scales  -  -  be  transposed  to  each  of  the  twelve 
tones  (counting  by  half-steps;  comprised  within  the  Octave,  the 
order  of  intervals  remaining  -  -  unlike  the  case  of  the  octave- 
species  —  always  the  same.  This  transposing-scale  (Tones)  becomes 
the  so-called  complete  system  (systema  teleion)  by  the  addition  of 
one  more  tetrachord  (a  l)?  —  c  —  d),  conjunctively  with  the  parent 
tetrachord  (e  f —  g  —  a  ,  whereby  the  gap  <the  whole  step  a  —  b) 
<it  the  meeting  of  both  these  tetrachords  is  filled  up,  and  at  the 
same  time  it  is  rendered  possible  to  modulate  into  other  keys 
primarily  into  the  Subdominant). 


THE  MTSIC  OF  THE  EARLY   CHRISTIAN  AGE.  19 

Complete  System  (Systema  teleion). 

m  Synemmenon.      , 


Diezengmenon. 


The  tone  common  to  two  tetrachords  united  conjunctively  if 
called  Synaphe  connecting-tone,  or  point  of  contact1,  the  gap 
arising  in  the  other  case,  Diazeuxis  Separation).  Accordingly  the 
tetrachord  which  is  separated  from  its  lower  neighbor  by  a  step 
is  called  diezeugmenon  of  the  disjunct),  and  the  interpolated  one 
synemmenon  (of  the  conjunct,  /.  e.  strings  or  tones). 

We  have  thus  indicated  the  chief  points  in  which  the  Greek 
music-theory  coincides  with  that  of  the  Christian  era;  for,  up  to 
the  time  that  two  of  the  octave-species  —  the  Ionian  (our  major 
scale  and  the  ^Eolian  'our  minor  scale)  —  attained  the  suprem- 
acy,* the  octave-species  collectively  continued  centuries  long  in 
use  and  have  been  retained  in  the  Catholic  liturgy  even  to  the 
present  time.  Moreover  we  must  emphasize  as  an  essential  differ- 
ence between  the  antique  and  the  modern  music  the  incompar- 
ably greater  melodic  variety  of  the  former.  If  the  Greeks  had  no 
knowledge  of  harmony  in  the  modern  sense,  i.  e.,  polyphony,  yet 
it  seems  as  if,  in  compensation,  their  ear  was  from  the  melodic 
side  very  much  more  finely  cultivated  than  ours.  This  is  indicated 
by  the  various  tone-genera,**  which  were  formed  within  the  Doric 
tetrachord  by  changing  the  place  of  the  middle  tone:  thus  from 
the  diatonic  genus  e  f  g  a,  for  instance,  was  formed  the  chromatic 


*  The  need  of  reducing  the  seven  octave-species  to  two  specially  charac- 
teristic ones  was  not  fully  satisfied  until  towards  the  end  of  the  \1^  century, 
yet  it  seems  to  have  existed  long  before.  This  is  indicated  by  the  predomin- 
ance of  the  two  modes  —  major  and  minor  —  in  the  folk-songs  of  the  most 
ancient  tradition;  moreover  by  a  remark  of  PLATO,  who,  in  his  "Republic" 
(Book  m,  Chap.  X),  relates  a  conversation  between  SOCRATES  and  the  musician 
GLAUKOX  concerning  the  character  of  the  different  octave-species,  in  the  course 
of  which  SOCRATES,  after  characterizing  two  particular  ones,  concludes :  "These 
two  octave-specie*,  a  powerful  one  and  a  gentle  one,  which  will  best  reproduce 
the  tones  of  the  unfortunate  and  the  fortunate,  of  the  thoughtful  and  the 
brave,  let  these  be  retained." 

••  The  expression  "tone-genus"  has  reference  to  the  relative  places,  within 
the  tetrachord,  of  the  steps  and  the  half-steps.  (Tranilator.) 


20  THE  MUSIC  OF  THE  EAKLY  CHRISTIAN  AGE. 

genus  by  lowering  the  ^-string  a  half-step,  and  the  enharmonic* 
by  lowering  g  another  half-step,  and  /  a  quarter-step,  as  here 
exemplified,  the  x  representing  the  quarter-step. 

Chromatic. 


Jiatonic. 

2  half-steps: 
1  step  and  a  half. 

.Ennarmoi 

110. 

2  steps:  1  half-step. 

~9~                          i         I 

2  quarter  steps 

:  2  steps. 

fe  1—              —  s>- 

1  

—  51 

i  — 

J5)  

Vl         1  1  Vi        !/2        !«/»  '/4        »/4         2 

The  richness,  or  more  properly  the  polychromatic  effect,  of 
the  Greek  melodies,  was  still  farther  increased  by  the  applica- 
tion of 'still  smaller  intervals,  the  so-called  Chroai  'nuances),  and 
it  is  easily  understood  that  the  reigning  spirit  of  the  young  Chris- 
tian church  had  to  strive  for  a  simplification  of  the  musical  system. 
Not  long  after  the  afore-mentioned  prohibition  by  CLEMENT  OP  AL- 
EXANDRIA of  the  use  of  the  chromatic  genus,  the  Christian  church 
gives  a  second  sign  of  musical  life.  The  constant  recurrence  of 
ecclesiastical  holy-days  had  necessitated  the  adoption  of  certain 
standards  for  the  execution  of  church-song,  and,  in  order  to  pre- 
serve these  for  future  generations  also,  the  first-singing  schools 
were  established  by  Pope  SYLVESTER  (A.  D.  314  and  his  successor 
HILARY.  It  was,  moreover,  all  the  more  necessary  to  provide  for 
the  education  of  church-singers,  inasmuch  as,  owing  to  the  ad- 
herence of  the  Church  to  the  Latin  language  and  the  gradual 
decay  of  the  latter  as  vulgar  tongue,  the  participation  of  the  laity 
in  the  church-song  had  of  its  own  accord  to  cease,  and  in  fact 
soon  afterward  the  council  of  Laodicea  (A.  D.  367)  made  a  decree 
that  "no  one  should  sing  in  church  other  than  the  singers  ap- 
pointed to  do  so  from  their  pulpit". 

Still  more  effectively  than  under  those  pontiffs  was  music  fur- 
thered in  the  same  century  under  AMBROSE,  Archbishop  of  Milan 
(died  A.  D.  397  ,  and  two  centuries  later  (590;  under  Pope  GRE- 
GORY THE  GREAT.  The  former  took  an  important  step  for  the  sim- 
plification of  the  music-system,  by  selecting  for  the  use  of  divine 
service,  from  among  the  Greek  octave-species  the  four  respectively 


*  Some  authors,  among  them  Fr.  BELLERMANN,  consider  this  genus  an  in- 
vention of  bad  singers,  who  had  the  mannerism  of  sliding  from  one  tone  to 
another  by  passing  through  the  intermediate  intervals,  —  just  as  the  porta- 
mento ig  abused  by  bad  singers  of  the  present  time.  (Translator.) 


THE   MUSIC   OF   THE   EAULY   CURISTIAN   AGE. 


21 


beginning  with  d,  c,  f  and  g,  which  were  subsequently  called  aw- 
tlit-titic  modes*  To  these  GREGORY  added  four  more,  respectively 
beginning  with  the  Fourth  below  the  authentic,  which  were  called 
(from  the  Greek  word  "plagios", »'.  e.  oblique,  side  wise)  plagal  modes, 
collaterals,  as  it  were,  of  the  others.**  Thus  the  number  of  the 
church-modes  was  increased  to  eight.  It  is  to  be  observed,  how- 
ever, that  the  plagal  are  not  independent  keys  in  the  same  sense 
as  the  authentic;  they  are  to  be  regarded  as  merely  a  transposition 


*  The  expression  "mode"  corresponds  to  the  modern  "key",  or  "scale". 
It  is  applied  also  to  a  melody  or  chant,  such  as,  for  instance,  is  often  called 
a  Gregorian  "tone".  Translator. 

**  Here  follow  illustrations  of  these  eight  so-called  "Ecclesiastical  Modes**f 
or  "Gregorian  Tones",  the  black  notes  representing  the  respective  "finals"  (in 
the  modern  sense,  key-notes).  Changes  of  nomenclature  will  be  noticed,  the 
former  Phrygian  mode  here  becoming  Dorian,  and  vice-versa,  —  etc.  (compare 
Exs.  p.  17).  These  changes  are  supposed  to  have  been  made  about  the 
10th  century.  Translator. 


Authentic  Modes  (Tones). 
rt  Tone.  Dorian. 


Plagal  Modes  (Tcnes). 
2d  Tone.  Hypo-dorian. 


3"»  Tone.  Phrygian. 


4th  Tone.  Hypo-phrygian. 


5th  Tone.  Lydian. 


6th  Tone.  Hypo-lydian. 


7*  Tone.  Mixo-lydian.      ^-  8th  Tone.  Hypo-mixo-lydian. 

^     tf> — «- 


To  the  above  scales  were  added  in  the  course  of  time  the  following  four* 
9«"  Tone.  jEolian.  10th  Tone.  Hypo-ieolian. 


-r_-—^^3 


22  THE  MUSIC  OF  THE    EARLY  CHRISTIAN  AGE. 

of  the  former,  in  this  wise,  viz;  that  the  lower  part  of  the  scale, 
containing  the  Fifth,  remains  in  its  pla^e,  while  the  upper  part, 
containing  the  Fourth  (Tetrachord  ,  is  transposed  an  Octave  lower. 
The  intimate  connexion  of  an  authentic  with  its  plagal  mode  — 
a  relationship  admirably  characterized  by  the  writers  of  the  Middle 
Age  by  means  of  the  expressions  "male"  and  "female"  —  is  seen 
most  clearly  in  the  circumstance  that  the  musical  center  of  gra- 
vity, the  "final",  is  common  to  both;  the  authentic  mode  has  it  in 
the  lower  part  of  its  compass,  the  plagal,  on  the  other  hand,  in 
the  middle.  The  scale  of  the  plagal  modes,  in  other  words,  has 
its  final  (key-tone)  on  the  Fourth,  the  melody  roaming  above  and 
below  it  within  the  compass  of  an  Octave.  On  this  principle  the 
melodies  also  were  classified  as  "authentic"  or  "plagal",  according 
as  they  extended  from  the  final  to  its  Octave  and  back,  or,  from 
the  final  to  the  upper  Fifth  and  lower  Fourth,  ending,  of  course, 
on  the  final.* 

Of  the  character  of  the  Ambrosian  chant  we  have  no  know- 
ledge save  through  the  meager  accounts  of  contemporary  writers, 
inasmuch  as  it  was  at  an  early  date  merged  into  the  Gregorian 
and  in  time  thoroughly  amalgamated  with  it.  From  their  descrip- 
tions we  know  only  this  much,  that  it  was  "solemn"  and  "extremely 
sweet",  and  for  a  while  was  more  highly  esteemed  than  even  the 
chant  of  the  Roman  church;  moreover  it  is  called  "metrical",  by 
which  is  meant  that  it  made  account,  after  the  ancient  manner, 
of  the  prosodial  quantity  of  the  syllables,  hereby  essentially  differ- 
ing from  the  Gregorian  Chant,  in  which  the  tones  had  no  deter- 
minate lenght,  and  which  was  therefore  also  called  cantus  planus, 
i.  e.,  even  or  plain  chant.  True,  this  "evenness"  of  the  Grego- 
rian chant  is  not  be  taken  too  literally,  as  if  no  difference 
whatever  was  made  in  the  duration  of  the  notes;  in  fact,  it  was 

*  Accordingly,  the  respective  first  themes  of  SCHUBERT'S  E?  Trio  and 
BEETHOVEN'S  E>  Symphony  (Eroica)  would  belong  to  different  modes,  the  for- 
mer to  the  authentic,  the  latter  to  the  plagaL 

SCHUBERT. 


BEETHOVEN. 


THE   MU8IC   OK  THE    EMILY   CHRISTIAN   AGE.  23 

optional  with  the  singer,  especially  as  soloist,  to  treat  the  syllables 
of  the  text  as  in  expressive  speech,  lengthening  or  shortening 
them  at  pleasure.  Still,  even  here  the  restraints  of  prosody  that 
hampered  the  antique  music  as  also  its  near  relation  the  Ambro- 
siaH  chant,  were  thrown  off.  The  liberation  of  music  from  the 
shackles  of  metrics,  says  DR.  AMBROS  Geschichte  der  Musik, 
Vol.  II),  severed  the  tie  that  had  up  to  that  time  bound  the  Chris- 
tian music  to  the  antique,  and  the  deep  significance  of  ST.  GREG- 
ORY'S musical  reform  lies  in  this,  that  music  was  now  actually 
emancipated  from  poetry,  in  which  it  had  hitherto  made  its  ap- 
pearance dependently,  almost  as  integrant  part. 

The  primacy  that  Pope  GREGORY  THE  GREAT  had  acquired  for 
the  Roman  church  brought  about  an  ever  greater  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity and  simultaneously  of  the  music  connected  with  public 
worship.  Both  found  an  energetic  protector  in  CHARLEMAGNE,  that 
enlightened  ruler  who  was  able  not  only  to  subjugate  nations 
resisting  civilization,  but  also  to  elevate  them  intellectually.  Rightly 
understanding  that  only  the  benefit  of  a  higher  culture  could  avail 
to  reconcile  permanently  the  conquered  nations  to  his  rule,  he 
founded  schools  throughout  the  whole  of  his  extensive  kingdom, 
among  which  those  at  Metz,  Soissons,  Fulda,  Mayence,  Treves  and 
St.  Gall  soon  attained  to  high  renown.  At  all  these  schools  music 
was  cultivated  equally  with  the  other  branches  of  learning,  prin- 
cipally as  a  science ;  but  from  the  practical  side  also  it  was  zeal- 
ously fostered  by  the  emperor,  church-song  as  well  as  secular 
music.  He  caused  his  secretary  EGINHARO  to  compile  a  collection 
of  the  heroic  songs  of  his  time,  which  unfortunately  is  lost;  he  had 
his  daughter  instructed  in  music  three  hours  daily;  he  himself 
never  failed  to  take  part  in  the  singing  during  public  worship  - 
in  one  of  his  portraits  he  appears  in  the  midst  of  the  choristers 
—  and  he  repeatedly  sent  to  Rome  for  chanters,  that  they  might 
by  their  example  refine  the  rough  voices  of  his  Prankish  singers. 
Thus  was  the  art  of  church-song  enabled  to  develop  itself  more 
and  more  abundantly  in  the  north  of  Europe  also,  especially  in 
the  school  at  Metz,  which  became  greatly  celebrated  for  its  style 
of  singing. 

Of  these  art-missionaries  sent  from  Rome  there  were  two 
that  laid  the  foundation  for  the  musical  splendor  which  the  mon- 
astery of  ST.  GALL  radiated  during  the  period  of  intellectual 


24  THE  MUSIC  OF  THE  EARLY    CHRISTIAN  AGE. 

darkness  from  the  eighth  to  the  twelfth  century.  PETRUS  and 
ROMANUS  were  the  names  of  the  two  singers  who,  by  command 
of  the  Pope,  and  provided  with  an  authentic  transcript  of  the  so- 
called  Antiphonary  —  a  collection  of  church-song  prepared  by 
ST.  GREGORY  —  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  north  for  propagating 
the  musical  gospel.  In  crossing  the  Alps  ROMANUS  fell  ill,  and 
it  was  only  with  difficulty  that  he  reached  the  monastery  of  ST. 
GALL;  but  here  he  was  so  affectionately  cared  for  by  the  monks 
that  even  after  his  recovery  he  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to 
leave  the  hospitable  abode,  and  —  having  obtained  the  Pope's 
permission  --  remained  there  to  the  end  of  his  life,  with  him 
the  Antiphonary,  which  to  this  day  is  preserved  in  the  monastic 
library  at  ST.  GALL.  From  this  time  forward  begins  among  the 
monks  of  the  monastery  an  unusually  earnest  scientific  and  artis- 
tic activity,  the  results  of  which  are  recorded  by  the  chroniclers 
among  them,  most  diffusely  by  EKKEHARD*,  the  fourth  of  this 
name,  in  his  "Casus  S.  Galli",  written  about  A.  D.  1000.  Much 
was  done  for  the  cultivation  of  music  by  the  two  NOTKERS  espe- 
cially, the  one  with  the  surname  LABEO  the  large-lipped),  as 
author  of  the  oldest  treatise  on  music  in  the  German  (old  High- 
German)  language,  the  other,  NOTKER  BALBULUS  (the  stammerer), 
as  inventor  of  a  new  art-species,  the  Sequences.  The  nature  of 
this  kind  of  melodies  is  indicated  by  their  name :  they  were  origin- 
ally appendices,  long-winded  coloratures,  with  which  the  last  tone 
of  the  "Hallelujah"  was  ornamented.  These  coloratures,  which 
originally  were  improvised,  grew  in  time  to  be  regular  melodies, 
to  which,  for  better  memorizing  them,  words  were  adapted.  One 
of  these  melodies  arranged  and  supplied  with  text  by  NOTKER 
BALBULUS,  has  not  only  been  retained  in  the  Catholic  church- 
service  but  also  passed  over  into  the  Protestant  'Lutheran)  choral- 
song:  it  is  the  sequence  "Media  vita  in  morte  sumus"  (in  German, 
"Mitten  wir  im  Leben  sind  von  dem  Tod  umfangen":  in  English, 
"In  the  midst  of  life  we  are  by  death  surrounded"),  to  the  writing 
of  which  NOTKER  received  the  impulse  when  on  a  ramble  in  the 
wild  chasm  near  ST.  GALL,  the  so-called  "Martinstobel"  (Martin's 


*  VICTOR  SCHEFFEL  has  utilised  the  accounts  given  by  this  historian  for 
a  vivid  description  of  the  monastic  life  at  St.  Gall  in  his  romance  entitled 
"Ekkehard". 


THE  MUSIC  OF    THE  EARLY    CHRISTIAN  AGE.  25 

glen) ,  at  the  sight  of  a  workman  who  was  killed  there  while 
building  a  bridge. 

Besides  vocal  music,  instrumental  performance  also  was  in- 
dustriously practised  in  the  monastery  of  ST.  GALL.  Of  the  monk 
TUOTILO  the  chronicle  relates  that  he  played  quite  skilfully  on 
various  kinds  of  wind  and  stringed  instruments,  and  instructed 
the  young  nobles  of  the  neighborhood  in  the  use  of  them.  Here, 
as  in  the  North  generally,  instrumental  music  was  sure  to  find 
many  lovers  for  the  reason  that  the  climate  was  less  favorable 
than  that  of  the  countries  of  southern  Europe  to  the  development 
of  the  vocal  organs,  and  consequently  the  sweetness  of  the  Italian 
singing  was  denied  to  the  northern  voices.  That  in  this  respect 
the  singers  of  ST.  GALL  also,  for  all  the  ripeness  of  their  musical 
culture,  had  to  stand  in  the  background,  is  shown  by  the  words 
of  a  traveller  from  Italy  who,  after  an  evening  musical  performance 
during  his  stay  in  the  monastery,  wrote  in  his  diary:  "The  men 
this  side  of  the  Alps,  though  they  make  the  thunder  of  their 
voices  to  roar  towards  heaven,  can  never  mount  to  the  sweetness 
of  soft  modulation.  Truly  barbarous  is  the  roughness  of  these 
throats,  hardened  by  drink ;  when  they  try,  by  lowering  and  rais- 
ing the  tone,  to  sing  with  sweetness,  nature  shudders,  and  it 
sounds  like  a  wagon  rattling  over  the  frozen  pavement  in  winter- 
time". 

The  author  of  this  sharp  criticism  hardly  dreamed,  perhaps, 
that  the  northerners  so  despised  by  him  had  a  mission  to  enrich 
music  with  one  of  its  most  important  accessories.  It  was  in  the 
north  of  Europe  that  that  element  was  to  be  developed  which  may 
be  regarded  as  precisely  the  characteristic  feature  of  the  modern 
as  distinguished  from  the  ancient  music,  viz:  polyphony.  The 
following  section  will  show  how  insignificant  were  the  germs  from 
which  --  only,  it  is  true,  after  the  lapse  of  many  centuries  of 
hard  labor  -  -  the  art  could  shoot  forth  whose  climax  is  indicated 
by  the  name  of  PALESTRINA. 


ra. 

THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC  MUSIC. 


V" 

Before  we  more  closely  consider  the  advances  made  in  mudif 
by  the  northern  nations,  we  must  make  mention  of  another  people, 
which  during  the  centuries  of  mediaeval  storm  and  stress  exercised 
a  fostering  influence  —  if  not  specially  upon  music,  at  least  — 
upon  the  development  of  culture  in  general,  viz:  the  Arabians. 
The  capacity  of  this  race  to  participate  in  the  intellectual  labor 
of  humanity  is  indicated  even  by  the  writers  of  antiquity.  But 
these  qualifications  attained  their  full  development  only  in  conse- 
quence of  the  religious  and  social  reform  brought  about  by  MAHOMET 
(A.  D.  622) ;  under  its  influence  the  Orient  was  able  to  lift  itself 
^rithin  a  short  time  to  a  plane  of  civilization  to  which  Europe 
vas  to  attain  only  after  centuries  later.  Nor  did  it  suffice  to  the 
followers  of  Islam  to  establish  only  on  their  native  soil  sites 
which,  like  Bagdad  and  Damascus,  spread  over  the  world  the 
fame  of  oriental  culture  and  civilization;  in  the  very  next  century 
they  were  impelled  to  propagate  the  doctrine  of  the  prophet  even 
beyond  their  own  part  of  the  globe.  In  a  trice  North-Africa  as 
far  as  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  was  subjugated,  and  after  crossing 
the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  (A.  D.  711)  an  end  was  put  to  the  Gothic 
rule  in  Spain,  which  had  already  been  strongly  shaken  by  party 
quarrels.  The  kingdom  of  the  Caliphs  arose  from  the  ruins  and 
attained  with  surprising  rapidity  to  a  high  political  and  intellec- 
tual prominence,  and  its  capital  city  Cordova  was  soon  able  to 
take  rank  with  the  previously  mentioned  centres  of  culture  of  the 
Orient.  The  Arabians  distinguished  themselves  pre-eminently  by 
fostering  the  sciences,  in  which  the  numerous  Jews  residing  in 
Spain  could  aid  them  all  the  more  effectually  on  acconnt  of  not 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC  MUSIC.  27 

being,  for  their  part,  impeded  in  their  intellectual  activity  by  any 
kind  of  material  pressure,  as  they  were  later,  in  consequence  of 
religious  fanaticism  under  the  Christian  rulers  of  the  land. 

For  the  rest  of  Europe  the  sovereignty  of  Islam  in  Spain 
came  to  be  of  great  importance  through  the  circumstance,  above 
everything  else,  that  by  the  agency  of  the  scholars  residing  in 
Spain  the  rest  of  Europe  became  acquainted  —  primarily,  to  be 
sure,  in  Latin  versions  only  —  with  the  literature  of  Grecian 
antiquity.  The  artistic  influence  also  of  the  Spanish  Arabians  on 
the  neighboring  peoples  cannot  have  been  insignificant,  to  judge 
by  their  performances  in  the  domain  of  architecture,  whose  im- 
portance and  unique  character  are  attested  by  the  monuments 
which  are  still  extant,  especially  the  grand  mosque  at  Cordova 
and  the  royal  palace  of  the  Alhambra  at  Granada.  From  doing 
as  much  for  music  the  Arabians  appear  to  have  been  hindered  by 
that  medley  of  soberness  and  grotesqueness  which  characterizes 
oriental  art  in  general.  The  same  spirit  of  restriction  that  is  seen 
in  the  ornamentation  of  their  edifices,  and  which,  for  keeping 
inviolate  the  law  of  the  Koran  against  symbolical  representations 
of  natural  objects,  changes  every  ornament  into  mathematical 
figures  —  called,  after  their  inventors,  arabesques  —  this  spirit 
is  expressed  in  the  oriental  music  also  with  its  exuberance  of 
ornamentation,  and  hinders  it  from  attaining  to  solid  structures. 
Just  as  little,  however,  as  the  practical  music  of  the  Arabs,  was 
their  musical  theory  (although,  as  Dr.  AMBROS  says,  not  a  whit 
behind  that  of  the  ancient  Greeks  in  subtlety  and  intricacy  ^  able 
to  afford  any  starting-point  whatever  for  a  musical  reorganization. 

To  labor  creatively  in  this  sense  was  reserved  to  the  Nations 
of  the  North.  If  nature  had  denied  them  the  euphony  of  the 
southern  voices,  they  had  received,  in  compensation,  the  talent  for 
tone-combinations  of  every  kind,  in  a  higher  degree  than  the  in- 
habitants of  southern  Europe.  Let  us  here  once  more  refer  to  the 
significance  of  instrumental  music  in  relation  to  that  talent.  In 
the  first  place  the  instruments  afforded,  with  their  fixed  number 
of  strings,  or  —  in  the  case  of  wind-instruments  —  holes,  a  much 
surer  foot-hold  to  theoretical  speculation  than  the  human  voice, 
which  can  wander  through  intervals  of  infinitely  different  extent; 
but  the  influence  of  instrumental  performance  upon  musical  com' 
position  was  in  a  high  degree  stimulating  and  purifying,  first, 


28  THE  BEGINNINGS   OF   POLYPHONIC   MUSIC. 

because  the  instruments  allow  to  the  composer's  imagination  freer 
play  than  the  vocal  setting,  cramped  by  the  limited  compass  of 
the  human  voice  as  also  by  the  text;  then  too  because  a  piece 
of  music  without  words  has  quite  special  need  of  inner  coherence, 
so  as  not  to  degenerate  into  empty  trifling.  We  may  accordingly 
assume  without  hesitation  that  polyphonic  music  took  its  starting- 
point  not  from  the  land  of  song  but  from  that  of  instrumental 
music,  and  that  it  was  practically  executed  on  instruments  long 
before  any  one  began  to  apply  it  in  song  or  to  treat  it  theoret- 
ically. 

The  correctness  of  the  latter  assumption  is  vouched  for  more- 
over by  the  nature  of  the  bow-instruments  as  they  appear  on 
the  oldest  monuments.  The  viols  here  represented  have  mostly 
three  strings ;  but  as  the  bridge  is  flat  and  the  depressions  intro- 
duced in  the  modern  violin-body  are  lacking,  the  bow  necessarily 
had  to  touch  all  three  strings  at  once,  thus  producing  a  tone-com- 
bination like  that  which  is  still  heard  on  the  Scotch  bag-pipe  and 
the  hurdy-gurdy  of  our  time :  on  the  highest  string  a  melody  was 
played,  while  te  two  lower  ones  sustained  the  key-tone  and  its 
Fifth,  after  the  manner  of  an  "organ-point".  That  the  first  attempts 
in  polyphonic  singing,  originally  improvisations  of  a  second  voice 
to  a  melody  of  the  Gregorian  church-song,  were  instigated  by  the 
playing  of  such  instruments  is  indicated  by  the  name  applied  to 
them  —  "ars  organandf  (literally,  art  of  "organating"*^  for  in 
early  mediaeval  times  by  "Organum"  was  meant  any  species  of 
musical  instrument.  And  for  the  same  reason  the  word  "organum" 
was  applied  to  the  art  of  polyphonic  composition,  at  the  time  that 
it  found  in  the  Flemish  monk  HUCBALD,  or  UBALDUS  (died  A.  D. 
930  in  St.  Amand's  monastery,  Flanders)  its  first  theoretical  re- 
presentative. 

HUCBALD'S  doctrine  of  the  Organum,  or  —  as  he  also  calls 
it  —  Diaphony,  treats  of  polyphonic  music,  and  that  not  only  as 
the  mere  singing  in  Octaves  or  the  occasional  concent  of  a  second 
tone,  as  had  been  practised  by  the  Greeks,  but  as  the  simultane- 
ous sounding  of  different  tone-series,  —  in  a  word,  as  that 


*  A  barbarous  English  word  coined  from  a  barbarous  Latin  original.    The 
expression  "organising",  in  common  use,  seems  to  me  hardly  appropriate  here, 

Translator. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC  MUSIC.  29 

which  at  the  present  day  we  mean  by  the  word  "Harmony".*  The 
interval  best  adapted  to  such  progressions  was  found  by  HUCBALD 
to  be  the  Fifth,  already  acknowledged  by  the  ancients  as  a  con- 
sonance, and  accordingly  he  began  by  making  two  voices  move 
in  parallel  Fourths  or  Fifths.  Next,  by  doubling  the  lower  voice 
in  the  upper  Octave  he  obtained  a  three-voiced  setting  and  par- 
allel Fourths,  and  Fifths,  and  finally,  by  doubling  the  Fourths 
or  Fifths,  a  four-voiced  setting.** 


*  In  antiquity  by  "Harmony"  was  understood  every  regular  tone-series; 
even  toward  the  close  of  the  Middle  Age  the  Netherlandic  music-theorist 
TINCTORIS  defines  harmony  as  "the  same  as  melody".  —  Of  HUCBALD'S  Orga- 
iiiiiii  it  has  been  maintained  of  late  that  it  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  harmony 
(in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word);  that  its  tone-series  moving  in  parallel  Fifths 
were  not  meant  to  be  simultaneous  but  successive.  The  alleged  proofs  of  this 
assertion  are,  first,  the  offensiveness,  to  the  musically  cultivated  ear,  of  par- 
allel Fifths ;  and  secondly,  the  Latin  predicates  "prsecedens"  and  "subsequens" 
respectively  applied  to  the  two  tone-series  by  the  writers  of  that  time.  To 
the  first  point,  it  is  answered  that  musical  taste  changes ;  hence  what  is  offen- 
sive to  modern  ears  may  have  been  agreeable  to  those  who  lived  a  thousand 
year.  ago.  As  to  the  Latin  words  it  is  to  be  observed  that  they  may  mean 
not  only  "preceding"  and  "subsequent",  but  also  "principal"  and  "imitating". 
In  the  present  case  they  have  undoubtedly  the  latter  meaning,  for  HUCBALD'S 
mission,  and  that  of  the  Middle  Age  in  general  was  —  not  to  revive  the  an- 
cient antiphonal  or  responsive  singing,  but  to  establish  a  theoretical  founda- 
tion for  an  entirely  different  kind  of  music,  viz:  for  the  simultaneous  combi- 
nation of  the  intervals  and  for  the  connexion  of  these  tone-combinations. 

*•  Examples  of  this  curious  system,  as  illustrations  of  the  beginnings  of 
harmony,  are  lacking  in  the  original ;  I  have  therefore  given  the  following  ones. 

Translator. 
Two-voiced. 

In  Fourth.  *  Fifths. 


in    o-pe-ri-bus  su-is.  Tu  Patris  sem-pi-ternus  es  Fi-li-us. 

Three-voiced. 


£L      O.      OL.      £L 
-& *- 


Nos         qui    vi  -  vi  -  mus   be  -  ne  -  di  -  ci  -  mus  Do  -  mi  -  num 


hoc    nunc    et       us  -  que      in      SIB  -  cu  -  lum. 


30 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC  MUSIC. 


If  we  have  here  merely  a  purely  mechanical  tone-combi- 
nation, onother  kind  of  Organum,  called  "oblique",*  exhibits  an 
approach  to  artistic  form.  This  latter  kind  is  invariably  only  two- 
voiced,  and  consists  partly  of  parallel  Fourths,  partly  of  oblique 
motion,  the  lower  voice,  that  is,  remaining  on  one  tone  while  the 
upper  one  forms  with  it  a  Second,  Third,  Unison,  etc.**  True, 
even  this  did  not  contribute  much  to  the  advancement  of  the  new 
art,  although  HUCBALD  himself  had  no  doubt  as  to  the  glorious 
effect  of  his  Organum.  "If  two  or  more  of  you"  —  he  says  — 
"shall  sing  together  with  discreet  and  harmonious  strictness,  each 


Mi  -  se  -  re      -      re  me  -  i,     De  -  us. 

Four-voiced. 


Tu  Patris  sempiternus  es  Fi-li-us. 


in    o  -  pe-  ri-bus  su-is. 


*  In  contradistinction,  that  is,  to  the  first  kind,  in  which,  as  the  exam- 
ples show,  the  voices  move  invariably  in  strict  parallelism.  Translator. 

**  In  this  system  parallel  Thirds  were  strictly  forbidden,  which  need  not 
seem  so  very  strange  to  us  when  we  consider  that  according  to  the  system 
of  tuning  of  that  time  every  major  Third  was  too  sharp  and  every  minor  Third 
too  flat.  Hence  the  Third  was  regarded  as  a  dissonant  interval.  As  the  original 
of  this  work  gives  no  example  of  this  kind  of  harmonization,  this  defect  is 
hereby  made  good.  Translator. 

Two-voiced. 


Tu    Pa  -  tris  sem  -  pi  -  ter  -  mis   es     Fi  -  li  -  ug. 
Four-voiced. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC   MC8IC.  31 

carrying  his  own  part,  you  will  notice  a  delightful  concent  arising 
from  this  blending  of  tones."  -  With  similar  meagre  results  (as 
we  of  our  day  should  put  it  HUCBALD  had  to  be  satisfied  in  his 
attempt  to  improve  musical  notation.  The  marking  of  the  tones 
by  means  of  the  first  seven  letters  of  the  alphabet,  which  was 
usual  in  his  time,  having  been  introduced  by  GREGORY  THE  GREAT, 
could  no  longer  suffice  for  the  higher  aims  which  music  hence- 
forth pursued  ,  any  more  than  could  the  so-called  Xeumes,  a  kind 
of  notation  which  probably  arose  from  the  accents  of  the  Greek 
written  language.  This  notation,  consisting  of  countless  characters, 
dots,  little  strokes  and  hooks,  had,  to  be  sure,  this  advantage 
over  the  letter-signs  that  it  could  represent  the  height  and  depth 
of  the  tones,  yet  the  position  of  the  several  tone-signs  was,  in 
the  absence  of  a  system  of  lines  stafi),  so  indefinite  as  to  allow 
the  most  diverse  readings.  HUCBALD'S  first  attempt  at  reform  in 
this  sphere,  scarcely  more  than  a  modification  of  the  Greek  letter- 
notation,  necessarily  failed  of  success  for  the  very  reason  that  here 
no  provision  was  made  for  the  need  just  alluded  to,  the  symboli- 
zation  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tones.  This  service  was  rendered, 
it  is  true,  by  a  system  of  notation  afterwards  proposed  by  him, 
having  a  staff  on  which  the  text-syllables  were  piled  up  and 
the  tone-degrees  indicated  by  the  letters  T  (Tontts,  whole  step) 
and  S  (Semifonium,  half-step)  at  the  beginning  of  each  space;  yet 
this  system  was  just  as  little  able  to  supplant  the  neume-notation, 
especially  on  account  of  its  clumsiness,  as  exhibited  in  the  follow- 

ing example,*        0   , 
* 


T  F  le  |       u  \ 


T  I  lu|      i\ 


I  F          a_\ 


T  F 


translated  as  follows  into  modern  notation, 


Al  -  le  -  lu      - 


•  The  signs  found  after  the  letters  T  and  B  helong  to  HUCBALD'S  abort- 
mentioned  first  attempt  at  reform  in  music-notation,  and  are  fully  explained 
by  H.  BELLEBUANN,  in  the  Allgcmeine  mutikalitcht  Zeitvng  (Leipsic),  1868, 
No.  37. 


32  THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC  MUSIC. 

It  was  not  till  a  century  later  that  the  need  of  an  intelli- 
gible music-notation  was  supplied,  through  the  agency  of  GUIDO 
D'  AREZZO,  who  was  the  first  one  to  use  a  staff  of  four  lines, 
employing  not  only  these  but  also  the  spaces,  and  thus  gaining 
for  each  tone  of  the  diatonic  scale  its  own  fixed  place.  He  car- 
ried out  to  a  conclusion  the  attempts  of  his  predecessors,  who  in 
utilizing  the  lines  had  not  followed  any  fixed  principle,  and  thus 
he  became  the  creator  of  the  system  of  notation  still  in  use  at 
the  present  time;  for  now  ensued  a  simplification  of  both  the 
number  and  the  form  of  the  neume-signs,  which  finally  after  all 
sorts  of  modifications  were  transformed  into  the  modern  notes,  as, 
for  example,  the  virgula  (a  figure  resembling  a  comma)  into  our 
modern  quarter-note.  —  Still  greater,  at  least,  among  his  con- 
temporaries, was  the  reputation  acquired  by  GUIDO  on  account  of 
his  method  of  teaching  singing,  by  means  of  which,  as  was  as- 
serted, the  pupil  could  learn  in  three  days  as  much  as  previously 
would  have  required  as  many  weeks.  This  method  consisted  in 
drilling  the  learner  in  an  unknown  melody  by  comparison  with 
another  one  already  known  to  him.  As  such  a  typical  melody 
GUIDO  recommended  a  certain  hymn  whose  separate  melodic  phra- 
ses —  or,  in  modern  language,  "measures"  —  form,  in  their  initial 
tones,  a  diatonic  scale.  The  text-syllables  respectively  correspond- 
ing to  these  initial  tones  are:  ut,  re,  mi,  fa,  &ol,  la*  which  casual 
circumstance  gave  occasion  to  the  Romance  nations  to  name  the 
diatonic  scale  after  these  syllables  (the  *•/,  for  the  seventh  degree, 
was  added  later  in  France,  after  the  octave-system  had  been  gen- 
erally accepted).  The  advantage  which  precisely  this  hymn  offered 


*  This  hymn,  in  which  the  singers  beg  St.  John  the  Baptist  to  deliver 
them  from  hoarseness,  runs  thus: 


Ut  que-ant  la   -    xis     .Re-so-na-re    fi-bris    Mi  -  -  ra  ge  -  sto-rum 

& — &  — . IP1    -^~-  — &~  — 

JVr-mu-li    tu  -  o-rum    Sol    -   ve  pol-lu-ti    Za-bi-i   re  -  a  -  turn 


Sane  -  te    Jo-an-nes. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC  MUSIC.  33 

the  pupil  was  a  twofold  one,  as  it  not  only  afforded  him  oppor- 
tunity to  memorize  the  scale,  but  was  also  calculated  to  quicken 
the  ear  for  the  difference  between  the  church-modes,  for  which 
latter,  as  for  the  melodic  phrases  of  the  hymn,  the  varying  posi- 
tion of  the  intervals  forms  the  characteristic  feature. 

The  success  of  this  method  was  so  great  that  even  the  Pope 
(John  XIX,  1024 — 1033)  wished  to  learn  it,  and  invited  its  discov- 
erer to  Rome  by  three  messengers,  received  him  on  his  arrival 
in  the  most  friendly  manner  and  did  not  rise  from  his  seat  till 
he  had  correctly  learned  a  melody  previously  unknown  to  him, 
and  thus  experienced  personally  what  he  had  hardly  been  willing 
to  believe  on  the  word  of  others  —  as  GUIDO  narrates  in  a  letter 
to  his  friend  and  fellow-monk  Michael.  A  great  part  of  GUIDO'S 
success  must,  however,  be  set  down  to  the  score  of  his  personal- 
ity; for  although  he  belonged,  like  all  other  representatives  of 
art  and  science  in  the  Middle  Age,  to  the  clerical  state  —  at 
first  in  the  monastery  of  Pomposa  near  Ravenna,  afterwards  in 
that  of  the  Benedictines  at  Arezzo  —  yet  he  by  no  means 
restricted  himself  in  his  labors  to  the  cloister-cell,  but  exerted 
himself  unremittingly  in  order  that  his  musical  achievements 
might  accrue  to  the  advantage  of  the  whole  world.  He  is  mainly 
distinguished  from  all  his  contemporaries  in  that  he  was  a  man 
of  the  people,  and  as  such  he  was  praised  by  the  grateful  voice 
of  the  masses  for  centuries  after  his  death,  and  even  far  above 
his  desert.  In  fact,  a  whole  series  of  inventions  belonging  to  later 
times  are  ascribed  to  him  by  the  musicographers  even  of  the 
preceding  century,  among  other  things  the  so-called  harmonic  or 
Guidonian  hand,  which  appears  from  the  12th  century  onward  in 
all  musical  instruction-books.  The  object  of  this  invention  was 
to  enable  the  student  to  learn  the  names  of  the  tones  employed 
in  GUIDO'S  time,  each  one  of  these,  except  B  flat  and  ee,  being 
assigned  to  a  place  on  one  of  the  nineteen  joints  of  the  human 
hand  (the  finger-tips  being  included):  the  upper  joint  of  the  thumb 
took  Gamma  (!'),  then  downward  (A,  B,)  then  across  (C,  D,  £,  f), 
up  the  little  finger  (G,  a,  b),  along  the  upper  joints  of  the  next 
three  fingers  (c,  d,  e),  down  the  little  finger  again  (/,  g),  and  so 
on,  in  a  circle,  up  to  the  highest  tone  but  one ;  the  last,  ee,  had 
its  place  above  the  middle  finger. 


34 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC  MUSIC. 


Of  incomparably  greater  value  is  another  invention  ascribed 
to  GUIDO,  the  system  of  Solmisation  (Sol-faing),  which  deserves 
to  be  mentioned  here  for  the  special  reason  that  it  was  held  in 
high  esteem  by  practical  as  well  as  theoretical  musicians  long 
after  the  Middle  Age.  The  Solmisation  or  Hexachord-system  di- 
vides the  tone-series  (extended  soon  after  GUIDO  to  20  tones)  into 
seven  groups  of  six  degrees  each,  called  Hexachords,  the  several 
tones  of  which  are  called  ut,  re,  mi,  fa,  sol,  la.  These  Hexachords 
are,  however,  not  joined  together  as  the  Octaves  are  in  our 
modern  system  (for  this  would  give  a  series  of  42  tones),  but 
overlap  each  other;  the  lowest  (the  so-called  Hard  Hexachord) 
embraces  the  tones  T  (Gamma,*  or  G,  the  tone  added  below  the 
scale  originally  beginning  with  A),  A,  B,  C,  D,  E\  but  already 
on  the  fourth  degree,  (7,  begins  a  new  one,  the  Natural  Hexa- 
chord, viz:  C,  D,  E,  F,  G,  a,  and  on  the  fourth  degree,  F,  of 
this  Hexachord  a  third,  the  Soft  Hexachord.  The  last  designation 

*  This  tone  being  called  gamma-ut,   originated  our  English  word  gamut. 

Translator. 


TilK   ItEGINMNGS   OF   POLTPHOXIO   MUSIC. 


35 


has  no  reference  to  the  interval-succession,  which  is  here  the  same 
as  in  the  two  other  Hexachords,  but  to  the  "soft  B"  (our  B  flat,  called 
B  rnotlc),  a  tone  inserted  in  the  scale  to  make  the  half-step  occur, 
as  usual,  between  its  third  and  fourth  tones,  and  thus  to  avoid 
the  so-called  Tritone,  or  major  Fourth,  f  —  b.  On  the  next  de- 
gree, G,  is  then  repeated  the  "Hard"  Hexachord,  then  the  "Natural" 
and  the  "Soft",  closing  with  the  seventh  Hexachord,  which  as  being 
the  highest  is  called  super-acutum,  whilst  the  Hexachords  of  the 
lowest  Octaves  are  called  grave,  those  next  above  them  acutum. 
All  this  is  illustrated  in  the  following  figure.* 


a 

H       , 

«5 

-1 

S3  -a 

"1 

0 

9 

-i 

i! 

0 

,f 

| 

!*£ 

«o  5 
•  2  - 

M     * 

o> 

0 
X 

M            3 

a  |» 

The  Gamut. 

«  /a 

e  la. 

d  la 

d  sol 

d  la  sol. 

e  sol 

cfa 

e  sol  fa. 

b^fa 

bf  mi 

b  fa.  b  mi. 

a  la 

a  mi 

a  re 

a  la  mi  re. 

g  sol 

g  re 

g  ut 

g  sol  re  ut. 

ff* 

fut 

ffa  ut. 

e  la 

e  mi 

e  la  mi. 

d  la 

d  sol 

d  re 

d  la  sol  re. 

c  sol 

c  fa 

e  ut 

e  sol  fa  ut. 

b?fa 

6JJ  mi 

b  fa.  b  mi. 

a  la 

a  mi 

a  re 

a  la  mi  re. 

Gsol 

G  re 

G  ut 

G  sol  re  ut. 

Ffa 

F  ut 

Ffa  ut. 

E  la 

E  mi 

£  la  mi. 

Dsnl 

Dre 

D  sol  re 

C  fa 

C  ut 

Cfa  ut. 

£mi 

B  mi. 

A  re 

A  re. 

r  ut 

1 

r«t 

•  I  have  given  the  illustration  in  the  form  found  in  GROVE'S  'Dictionary 


36  THE  BEGINNINGS   OF   POLYPHONIC   MUSIO. 

The  attachment  to  the  tetrachord-system  of  the  Greeks  seems 
to  have  been  one  reason  why  the  octave-system  was  not  already 
adopted  and  a  kind  of  transition  by  means  of  the  hexachord  was 
preferred.  Nevertheless  the  sol-faing,  in  that  it  lays  stress  on  the 
intimate  relations  between  the  principal  key  and  its  collateral  keys 
(Tonic,  Dominant  and  Subdominant),  was  by  no  means  unimportant 
for  the  evolution  of  the  modern  music-system,  and  it  is  no  wonder 
that  even  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  it  found  ardent  de- 
fenders, among  them  the  excellent  organist  BUTTSTEDT,  of  Erfurt. 

Despite  the  improvements  in  music-notation  introduced  by 
GUIDO  OF  AREZZO,  one  imperfection  still  adhered  to  it  which  with 
the  advancing  cultivation  of  polyphonic  music  was  necessarily  more 
and  more  keenly  felt  —  the  impossibility  of  indicating  the  duration 
of  the  tones.  If  two  or  more  parts  were  to  be  sung  together, 
their  relative  proportion  had  to  be  accurately  determined,  in  regard 
not  only  to  the  pitch  of  the  tones  but  also  to  their  time-value. 
The  first  writer  to  give  information  regarding  the  rules  to  be 
observed  in  "mensural"  music  is  FRANCO  OF  COLOGNE  (about  A.  D. 
1200).  Like  all  his  predecessors  in  the  province  of  music-theory 
he  too  follows  the  Greek  tradition  and  admits  at  first  only  two 
note-values,  the  long  and  the  short  note  (longa  m  and  brevis  •), 
corresponding  to  the  long  and  the  short  syllable  of  the  ancient 
prosody.  The  union  of  these  two  notes,  the  shorter  of  which  has 
half  the  value  of  the  longer,  gives  the  so-called  modus,  which 
appears  either  as  trochee  ( —  )  or  as  iambus  (-—  ),  and  is  always 
tripartite.  This  explains  why  in  the  earliest  period  of  mensural 
music  the  three-part  rhythm  alone  found  application,  and,  after 
the  two-part  rhythm  also  came  into  use  later  on,  was  called  "per- 
fect", the  latter  "imperfect".  In  carrying  out  his  system  farther, 
however,  FRANCO  forsakes  the  ancient  traditions,  for  here  appear 
as  new  note-values  the  double  long  (maxima  u)  and  the  half  short 
(semibrevis  4).  With  these  signs,  to  which  are  to  be  added  those  for 
the  rests,  which  also  are  mentioned  for  the  first  time  by  FRANCO, 
it  was  now  possible  to  note  down  a  rhythmically  variegated  piece 
of  music.  The  mensural  notation  labored,  however,  under  the  im- 
perfection that  the  value  of  the  notes  depended  not  only  on  their 


of  Music  and  Musicians"  (Art.  "Hexachord"),  as  being  clearer  than  that  in  the 
original.  Translator. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC  MUSIC.  37 

thape  but  also  on  their  position  in  regard  to  the  neighboring  note. 
Thus,  a  long  alone  filled  a  tripartite  measure;  but  if  followed  by 
a  short,  or  breve  it  became  bipartite  and  together  with  the  latter 
formed  a  measure;  if  followed  by  two  breves  it  again  became 
tripartite,  the  two  breves  then  forming  together  a  tripartite  meas- 
ure, in  this  way,  that  the  first  one  had  the  value  of  one  part, 
the  second  one,  of  two  parts.* 

After  FRANCO  OF  COLOGNE  the  greatest  services  in  the  devel- 
opment of  mensural  music  were  rendered  by  MARCHETTUS  OP 
PADUA  (end  of  the  13th  century)  and  JOHANNES  DE  MURIS,  doctor 
of  theology  at  the  Paris  university  (beginning  of  the  14th  century). 
In  the  writings  of  these  two  learned  musicians  appears  for  the 
first  time  the  prohibition  of  the  parallel  Octaves  and  Fifths  so 
praised  by  HUCBALD  for  their  sweetness,  together  with  other  rules 
which  have  remained  to  this  day  in  force  for  strict  composition. 
DE  MURIS  is  said  also  to  have  first  applied  the  word  counterpoint 
ft.  e.t  "point  against  point",**  in  Latin  "punctus  contra  punctual") 
instead  of  the  word  "discant",  in  use  up  to  that  time,  to  denote 
a  two-voiced  composition.  The  one-sided  preference  for  the  tri- 
partite measure  is,  to  be  sure,  manifested  by  him;  it  is  not  till  a 
century  later  that  the  bipartite  measure  is  introduced  in  practical 
composition  as  of  equal  right  with  the  former,  and  thus  the  re- 
quired free  space  was  gained  for  the  farther  development  of 
mensural  music. 

Let  this  little  suffice  to  give  an  idea  of  the  helplessness  of 
the  mensural  notation  and  the  laboriousness  of  the  intellectual 
work  of  the  Middle  Age  in  general,  even  at  the  time  of  the 
meritorious  personages  already  mentioned.  We  are  just  in  the 
palmy  days  of  the  scholastic  philosophy,  which  from  the  time  of 


*  A  rhythm  of  this  kind  ^  •  •  1  •  •,   expressed  in  modern  notation 

~  seems,  to  be  sure,  to  modern  ears 


not  a  little  strange  on  account  of  the  clumsy  limping  movement;  but  taken  in 


quick  time  ^—       J.  2  J— J">  J       it  loses  this  character,   as  is  seen  in 


many  examples  of  its  application  in  modern  compositions,  as  for  instance  in 
the  first  movement  of  BEETHOVEN'S  Symphony  in  A  (No.  7). 

*•  This  refers  to  the  ancient  manner  of  notation  by  pricking  the  paper, 
thus  forming  points,  which  represented  notes.  Translator. 


38  THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC  MUSIC. 

CHARLEMAGNE  to  the  revival  of  the  ancient  culture,  thus  six  hun- 
dred years  long,  ruled  the  world.  During  this  period,  in  which  the 
church,  grown  more  and  more  powerful,  had  rendered  both  science 
and  art  tributary  to  herself  alone,  philosophical  thought  and  dia- 
lectics are  also  found  exclusively  in  the  service  of  theology:  philo- 
sophy is  regarded  as  the  serving-maid  (ancilla)  of  religion,  and 
even  the  study  of  the  ancient  authors,  especially  of  ARISTOTLE,  had 
for  its  sole  purpose  the  scientific  support  of  the  edifice  of  Chris- 
tian faith  erected  by  the  fathers  of  the  church.  No  wonder  that 
under  an  intellectual  tendency  so  unfavorable  to  the  investigation 
of  truth,  humanity,  in  its  endeavors  after  progress,  should  often 
go  astray,  and  the  inquirer  not  seldom  lose  himself  in  petty  spec- 
ulation and  trifles.  Thus  a  HUCBALD  could  hit  upon  the  whimsical 
idea  of  composing  in  honor  of  CHARLES  THE  BALD  a  Latin  poem, 
"The  praise  of  baldness",  in  which  every  word  hat  the  same  ini- 
tial letter  —  c  —  as  the  Latin  word  for  baldness  -  -  cahities; 
thus  too  could  the  practical  GUIDO  recommend  a  method  of  com- 
position which  consisted  in  substituting  for  each  of  the  five  vowels 
a  tone  of  the  scale,  and  then  writing  under  the  several  syllables 
of  a  text  chosen  at  option  the  tone  corresponding  to  its  vowel, 
whereby,  according  to  his  opinion,  every  thing  written  was  changed 
into  song  —  a  "manikin-melodization  in  the  retort  of  the  five 
vowels",  as  Dr.  AMBROS  has  very  happily  characterized  this  man- 
ner of  composing.  FRANCO,  too,  is  seen  to  be  by  no  means  free 
from  the  scholastic  usage  of  referring  every  thing  to  the  church ; 
as  when  for  instance  he  maintains  that  the  tripartite  longa  (•)  is 
to  be  called  the  "perfect"  because  it  took  its  name  from  the  Holy 
Trinity,  the  absolute  and  true  perfection.  But  MARCHETTO  OF  PADUA 
even  drags  the  Christian  doctrine  into  the  dispute  whether  the 
tripartite  long  note  should  have  the  stem  on  the  right  or  the  left 
side,  and  settles  the  matter  in  favor  of  the  right  side  thus :  "As 
the  right  side  in  man  is  more  perfect  than  the  left,  because  it 
contains  that  which  nourishes  and  perfects  man,  to  wit,  the  blood; 
so  too  a  note  with  the  stem  at  the  right  side  is  more  perfect 
than  one  with  the  stem  at  the  left.  For  this  reason  too,  Christ 
willed  to  be  pierced  in  the  right  side,  in  order  to  shed  all  his 
blood  for  the  human  race" 

Still,  for  all  the  unfavorable  conditions  of  the  time,  the  stag- 
nation of  the  intellectual  life  was  in  appearance  only ;  slowly,  but 


THE  HI. i, INNINGS  OF  POLYPHONIC   MUSIC.  39 

iurely,  the  world  moved  forward  to  higher  aims.  Scholasticism, 
too,  had  to  contribute  its  share  to  the  movement  of  minds,  in 
that  it  made  the  objects  of  faith  objects  first  of  reason,  then  of 
doubt,  lastly  of  scientific  investigation.  Indeed,  the  very  vagaries 
of  the  scholastics  tell  of  thirst  for  light  and  the  spirit  of  inquiry, 
which  under  the  pressure,  of  circumstances  could  of  course  reveal 
themselves  for  the  most  part  only  in  the  petty  manner  just  al- 
luded to.  But,  just  as  science  in  consequence  of  these  endeavors 
struggled  up  to  new  life,  so  did  also  art,  particularly  music,  for 
which,  after  the  accomplishment  of  the  needful  preliminary  la- 
bors, that  epoch  of  rich  development  began  which  is  called,  after 
the  nation  chiefly  concerned  in  it,  the  Netherlandio. 


IV. 

THE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDERS. 


Through  the  labors  of  a  HUCBALD,  a  GUIDO  and  a  FRANCO 
the  soil  in  which  a  genuine  art-music  could  grow  up  was,  indeed, 
prepared,  yet  it  was  a  considerable  time  before  the  first  buds  of 
such  a  thing  ventured  to  show  themselves.  The  European  nations 
were  still  too  deeply  sunken  in  lethargy  and  barbarity  to  allow 
to  art  free  space  for  its  development;  when  all  at  once  an  event 
happened  which  powerfully  transformed  not  only  the  religious  and 
political  situation,  but  also  the  collective  intellectual  life  of  Eu- 
rope, that  is  to  say,  the  Crusades,  beginning  in  1096.  It  was  not 
only  to  the  members  of  the  religious  and  the  knightly  orders  that 
the  summons  of  a  PETER  OF  AMIENS,  a  BERNARD  OF  CLAIRVAUX 
for  the  rescue  of  the  holy  sepulchre  from  the  hands  of  the  in- 
fidels was  addressed;  to  all  who  should  join  the  expedition  eternal 
salvation  was  promised,  and  in  consequence  of  this,  multitudes 
belonging  to  the  most  diverse  conditions  of  life  who  were  eager 
for  the  adventure  took  part  in  the  march  to  Jerusalem,  as  in  a 
general  pilgrimage.  For  the  great  majority  of  the  Crusaders, 
however,  the  impressions  and  experiences  gained  in  the  East  must 
have  had  a  lasting  effect,  since,  as  has  already  been  mentioned, 
the  civilization  of  that  country  was,  even  from  the  reign  of  the 
Abassides,  especially  of  the  caliph  HAROUN  AL  KASCHID  (A.  D.  800), 
who  belonged  to  that  dynasty,  in  every  respect  superior  to  that 
of  the  West.  Similarly,  the  singers  and  instrumental  musicians  in 
the  retinue  of  the  Crusaders  found  in  the  East  rich  inspiration 
and  nutriment  for  their  art.  For,  although  the  oriental  music 
—  like  that  of  the  Arabs  in  Spain  —  was  of  its  very  nature  ill- 
adajjted  to  the  solution  of  ideal  art-problems,  yet  the  singing- 


THE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY  OP  TUB  NETHERLANDER.  41 

method  of  the  orientals  with  its  characteristic  richness  of  orna- 
mentation, as  also  their  musical  instruments  the  lute  and  the  guitar, 
which  had  been  unknown  to  the  Crusaders,  moreover  the  noisy 
instruments  used  in  the  Saracen  military  music,  the  drum  and  the 
kettle-drum.  —  all  these  elements,  after  they  had  been  introduced 
into  the  western  music,  necessnrily  gave  the  latter  an  altered 
character. 

Still  more  important  appears  to  be  ihe  enrichment  experienced 
by  the  poetry  of  the  West  in  consequence  of  the  Crusades.  The 
separation  —  often  for  years  —  from  home  and  family  brought 
about  a  deepening  of  the  emotional  life  till  then  unknown ;  a  new 
species  of  poetry  arises  in  which  the  feeling  for  chivalry  and  love- 
service  (Minnedienst)  finds  its  expression,  the  so-called  gay  science 
(gay a  tiencia),  indigenous  especially  to  the  soil  of  Provence,  fa- 
vored as  it  is  by  a  happy  climate  and  the  lively  disposition  of  its 
inhabitants.*  Here  the  grandees  of  the  land  devoted  themselves 
to  this  science,  the  first  being  count  WILLIAM  OF  POITIERS  (1 087 
— 1127),  afterwards  MngTmBAUT  OP  NAVARRE  (1201—1254),  these 
however,  always  only  as  originators  of  songs,  whence  they  were 
also  called  Trouveres  (from  the  French  "trouver"),  a  word  which 
has  become  in  our  English  tongue  (more  identical  with  the 
Italian  synonym  "trovatore")  Troubadours.  The  execution  of  the 
songs  composed  by  them,  as  also  the  instrumental  accompaniment 
of  them  they  handed  over  to  the  so-called  Minstrels  (derived  from 
"ministerialis",  from  the  Latin  "minister**,  a  "helper"),  also  called 
Jongleurs  (from  the  Latin  "joculator",  merry-maker),  who  belonged 
to  a  lower  class  of  society  and  were  often  ranked  with  buffoons, 
as  is  seen  in  a  contemporaneous  sculpture  of  the  church  of  St. 
George  at  Bocherville  near  Rouen,  representing  among  a  group 
of  instrumental  musicians  a  human  figure  walking  on  his  hands. 
An  exceptional  position  among  the  troubadours  is  occupied  by 
ADAM  DE  LA  HALE,  called  after  his  deformity  and  his  native  place 
"the  humpback  of  Arras",  inasmuch  as  he  unites  in  his  person  the 


•  The  cradle  of  this  art  may  probably  be  held  to  be  the  court  of  the 
margraves  of  Barcelona,  whose  kingdom,  founded  by  CHARLEMAGNE  as  a  rampart 
against  the  Arab  dominion  in  Spain,  stood  in  intimate  political  and  intellec- 
tual relations  with  southern  France,  especially  with  Provence,  but  was  at  the 
same  time  directly  exposed  to  the  influence  of  Arabic  civilization,  which  also 
on  its  part  had  an  important  share  in  the  development  of  Provencial  song. 


42  THE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  TUB  NETHERLANDER. 

composer  of  songs  and  the  executive  musician.  He  was  moreover 
well  versed  in  the  strict  art-forms  also,  so  far  as  they  had  then 
been  developed,  and  ranks  among  the  first  musicians  who  under- 
took to  compose  four-voiced  vocal  pieces.  A  lately  discovered 
vaudeville  by  him,  "Robin  and  Marian",  the  subject  of  which  is 
the  naive  description  of  a  rustic  love-affair,  was  performed  in  1 282 
at  the  court  of  Robert  the  second  of  Artois  at  Naples,  and  is  there- 
fore the  oldest  specimen  of  dramatic  art  in  France,  for  which 
reason  ADAM  DE  LA  HALE  is  rightfully  indicated  in  the  history  of 
French  literature  as  the  founder  of  comic  opera. 

The  same  intellectual  current  that  in  the  case  of  the  Romanic 
peoples  had  called  into  existence  the  art  of  the  troubadours,  ex- 
pressed itself  among  the  ancient  Germans  who  had  remained  un- 
mixed in  Germany,  in  the  form  of  erotic  poetry  called  in  their 
tongue  Minnegesang*  The  "minnesinger"  differed,  however,  from 
the  troubadour  in  that  he  himself  sang  his  songs  and  accompa- 
nied them  on  an  instrument,  usually  a  small  three-cornered  harp, 
such  as  is  often  seen  depicted  in  ancient  manuscripts,  among 
ethers  in  that  of  GODFREY  OF  STRASBURG'S  "Tristan  and  Isold",  be- 
longing to  the  first  half  of  the  13th  century,  in  the  court-library 
at  Munich.  Moreover  the  minnesingers  did  not  belong,  as  the 
troubadours  did,  exclusively  to  the  knightly  order;  of  the  singers 
participating  in  the  S'dngerkrieg  aufder  Wartburg  (contest  of  singers 
on  the  Wartburg),  in  1207,  under  landgrave  Hermann  of  Thuringia, 
WOLFRAM  OF  ESCHENBACH,  WALTER  OF  THE  VOGELWEIDE,  HEIN- 
RICH  SCHREIBER  and  HeiNRiCH  OF  ZWETZSCHIN  were,  as  the  chron- 
icler puts  it,  "knightly  men",  on  the  other  hand  BITEROLF  was 
one  "of  the  landgrave's  household  servants",  and  HEINRICH  OF 
OFTERDINGEN  a  burgess  of  Eisenach.  The  musical  difference  of 
the  German  Minnegesang  or  love-song  from  the  song  of  the  trou- 
badour consisted  in  this,  that  the  latter  made  the  text  subservient 
to  the  melody,  whereas  with  the  former  the  poetry  becomes  the 
principal  thing  and  the  characteristic  song-melody  is  supplanted 
by  the  recitative  style  of  the  ecclesiastical  chant. 

This  predominance  of  the  poetical  over  the  musical  element 
is  exhibited  also  in  the  songs  of  the  Master-singers,  who  under- 


*)  From  "Minne",  love,  and  "Gesang",  song.     It  is  generally  englished 
"Minnesong".  Translator. 


THE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY  OP  THE  NETHERLANDER*.  43 

look  the  care  of  art  after  it  had  passed  over  from  the  knightly 
singers  to  the  burghers  and  respectable  artisans.  According  to 
F.  H.  VON  DER  HAGEN  ("The  Minne-singers  and  Song-poets  of  the 
13th,  14th  and  15th  centuries".  Leipsic,  1838.  Vol.  IV,  p.  853  seqq.), 
by  the  so-called  "tones"  of  the  master-singers  are  meant  not  only 
the  song-melodies  themselves,  but  also  the  metrical  schemes, 
hence  they  have  special  reference  to  the  poetry.  Concerning  the 
interior  economy  of  these  singing-societies  organised  after  the 
manner  of  a  guild,  we  find  copious  information  in  WAGENSEIL'S 
book  Ton  der  Meistersinger  holdseligen  Kust"  ("Of  the  delightful 
art  of  the  Master-singers")  published  1697  in  Nuremberg,  and  in 
our  own  time  RICHARD  WAGNER  has  renewed  the  memory  of  the 
Master-singers  in  his  poem  bearing  that  title.  In  these  works  we 
are  made  acquainted  in  the  first  place  with  the  Tabulature,  by 
which  is  meant  the  whole  body  of  laws  for  the  government  of 
the  guild.  The  members  are  divided  into  three  classes :  whoever 
has  learned  the  various  "tones"-,is  a  "singer";  a  higher  degree, 
the  rank  of  a  "poet",  is  attained  by  him  who  composes  a  new 
and  suitable  text  to  one  of  the  tones;  but  to  acquire  the  dignity 
of  "master"  the  union  of  both  faculties,  the  poetical  and  the 
musical,  is  requisite: 

"The  poet  who,  with  brain  so  witty, 
To  words  and  rhymes,  by  himself  prepared, 
Can  shape  from  the  tones  a  new  strain  or  ditty, 
He  is  a  blaster-singer"  declared.*** 

The  conscientiousness  and  the  zeal  shown  by  the  members  of  the 
guild  in  the  observance  of  their  laws  can  serve  as  a  gratifying 
testimony  to  the  feeling  for  art  entertained  by  the  German 
burgherdom,  even  though  the  artistic  results  of  those  efforts  have 
only  extremely  little  value.  The  melodies  of  the  Master-singers 
were  like  the  church  psalmody,  monotonous  and  lacking  in  expres- 
sion, although  they  were  embellished  at  the  cadencing  sections  with 
all  kinds  of  ornamentation.  The  relation  of  their  music  to  poetry 
was  as  good  as  none  at  all;  as  a  rule  the  tune  was  not  deter- 
mined by  the  text,  but  vice-versa,  the  text  by  the  tune;  frequently 


•  From  WAGNER'S  "Die  Meistersinger  von  Nflrnberg",  englished  by  H. 
and  F.  Corder.  I  take  this  opportunity  of  saying  that  the  brothers  Corder 
have  in  my  judgment  admirably  succeeded  in  the  difficult  task  of  reproducing 
in  English  the  wit  and  raciness  of  WAGNER'S  original.  Translator. 


44  THE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDER. 

the  tune  was  composed  first,  and  after  it  was  found  to  be  free 
of  faults  the  author  was  required  to  make  a  suitable  text  to  it, 
upon  a  determined  biblical  or  spiritual  subject.  With  this  homely 
manner  of  art-education,  which  moreover  is  manifested  in  the 
strange  names  given  to  the  tunes  —  there  was,  for  instance,  "an 
Over-short  evening-red  tune",  a  "Black  ink  tune",  a  "Short  monkey 
tune",  a  "Gonnandizer-in-secret  tune",  etc.  —  neither  poetry  nor 
music  could  specially  thrive.  Yet  the  master-singer  schools  had 
unquestionably  a  good  effect  on  the  morality  of  their  members, 
and  much  as  we  may  feel  repelled  by  the  pedantry  inherent  in 
their  artistic  efforts,  yet  on  the  other  hand  the  tendency  of  these 
simple  natures,  aiming  at  the  ideal  in  the  midst  of  all  the  worry 
of  common-place  life,  deserves  the  warmest  recognition.  This  view 
is  taken  by  RICHARD  WAGNER  also  when  he  makes  his  master- 
finger  HANS  SACHS  (1495 — 1576)  answer  as  follows  the  question 
as  to  the  rules  of  the  Guild):  "By  what  man  were  they  first 
devised  *?" 

"By  certain  sorely  troubled  masters, 
Their  hearts  oppressed  by  life's  disasters; 
By  suffering  overweighted, 
A  model  they  created, 

That  they  might  take  it, 
And  ever  make  it 
A  memory  of  youthful  love, 
In  which  the  soul  of  Spring  should  move."* 

The  schools  of  the  Master-singers  fell,  after  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  more  and  more  into  decay;  only  those  of  Nuremberg  and 
Strasburg  maintained,  up  to  the  close  of  the  preceding  century, 
a  certain  importance.  The  German  master-song  did  not  actually 
come  to  an  end  before  1839,  when  the  last  surviving  members  of 
the  School  at  Ulm  handed  over  their  corporation  badges  to  the 
Liederkranz  of  that  city  and  thereby  dissolved  their  guild.  The 
master-singers  were  moreover  of  advantage  to  the  music  of  their 
time  in  this  respect,  that,  after  their  example  the  instrumental 
musicians  also  united  in  corporations  organized  like  guilds,  gave 
up  the  wandering  life  which  they  had  previously  led  and  took  up 
a  permanent  abode  in  the  cities.  Thus  arose,  as  early  as  J288, 
in  Vienna  a  society  under  the  name  of  the  "Nicolai-Bruderschaft", 

*  "Die  Meistersinger  von  Nurnberg".     Corder's  translation. 


THE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY  OP  TIIE  NKTHKRLANDER8.  45 

and  in  1 330  in  Paris  the  "Confrerie  de  St.  J alien  des  Menestriers" 
(Minstrels),  the  latter  under  a  director  with  the  title  of  "King  of 
the  violins"  (roi  des  violons),  whose  rule  continued  till  the  17th  cen- 
tury, when  it  was  terminated  by  Louis  XIV,  after  the  last  director, 
DUMANOIR  II.,  had  arrogated  the  jurisdiction  over  all  the  musicians 
of  Paris,  including  the  organists,  and  thus  brought  on  himself  his 
downfall. 

Side  by  side  with  the  Minnesong  and  the  Master-song,  but 
independent  of  either,  the  Folksong  (National  Song)  had  in  the 
last  centuries  of  the  Middle  Age  been  developed.  The  so-called 
Limburg  Chronicle,  edited  by  the  scribe  JOHANNES  (1317 — 1402), 
gives  the  earliest  details  concerning  the  nature  of  the  Folksongs 
and  of  the  contemporaneous  instrumental  music  ("pipe-playing", 
as  it  calls  it),  but  unfortunately  no  musical  specimens;  these, 
however,  are  found  in  great  number  in  a  manuscript  of  the  15th 
century,  called,  after  the  place  where  it  originated,  the  "Lochheim 
song-book".  The  melodies  therein  given  are  remarkable  not  only 
for  the  significant  tone-leading  and  the  skilfully  organized  rhythms, 
but  also  for  the  fidelity  with  which  they  reproduce  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  poetry  and  give  expression  to  that  which  language 
is  unable  of  itself  alone  to  utter. 

If  now  we  return  to  the  consideration  of  Art-music,  we  again 
see  an  ecclesiastico-historical  event  coincide  with  the  evolutionary 
course  of  music  --  the  emigration,  necessitated  by  the  political 
dismemberment  of  Italy,  of  the  papal  see  from  Rome  to  Avignon 
(1305).  Here,  in  music-loving  Provence,  the  need  of  utilizing  for 
the  service  of  the  Church  also  the  musical  advances  made  in  the 
course  of  the  ages  could  not  but  find  rich  nourishment.  In  par- 
ticular, the  till  then  only  timidly  practised  art  of  "Organating"  (see 
p.  28)  is  now,  under  the  name  of  Discanlus  (song  of  two,  i.  e.t  two- 
voiced  song),  studied  by  the  church-singers  with  more  and  more 
freedom  and  zeal,  so  that  not  unfrequently  the  dignity  of  the 
divine  service  seemed  to  be  compromised  by  it.  In  vain  did  Pope 
JOHN  XXII  issue  a  bull  against  the  use  of  strange  and  umnelodic 
intervals  in  the  Gregorian  chant,  "with  the  exception  of  certain 
more  melodious  consonances,  such  as  the  Octave,  Fifth  and  Fourth, 
applied  to  the  simple  church-song,  and  even  these  on  festivals 
only".  It  was  not  until  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  that 
tin-  rules  for  the  discant,  which  had  already  been  laid  down  a 


46  THE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  THE  NETIIERLANDERS. 

century  before,  were  fully  recognised  in  practice  also,  owing  chiefly 
to  thp  efforts  of  Frenchmen  and  Netherlander  in  the  papal  chapel 
who  were  specially  endowed  for  this  art,  and  herewith  the  abuse 
of  improvising  was  for  the  time  being  kept  within  bounds.  In  this 
period  originates  the  oldest  example  of  tetraphonic,  or  four-voiced 
<hurch-music,  a  mass  composed  for  the  coronation  of  Charles  V. 
?f  France  (1364)  by  WILLIAM  OF  MACHAUD,  who,  as  previously 
AJ>AM  DE  LA  HALE,  constitutes  the  transition  from  the  troubadour 
to  the  really  schooled  musician.  Of  the  several  voices  of  such  a 
tetraphonic  vocal  piece,  that  one  which  sustained  the  principal 
melody,  or  Cantus  firmus,  taken  from  the  Gregorian  chant,  was 
called  Tenor  (from  the  Latin  "tenere",  "to  hold").  As  this  principal 
melody  was  assigned  by  preference  to  the  clearer  species  of  male 
voice,  the  name  "Tenor"  has  adhered  to  this  species  although  its 
original  signification  necessarily  disappeared  with  the  later  devel- 
opment of  polyphonic  music.  The  counter-part,  the  Discantus  or 
Cantus,  was  also  called  Motetus,  from  the  French  "mot",  «.  e., 
sentence,  or  motto,  inasmuch  as  it  was  usual  to  employ  for  this 
voice  a  motive  borrowed  from  some  popular  song,  the  text  of 
which  bore  some  relation  to  that  of  the  church-melody.  The  third, 
highest  voice  was  called  Triplum  (whence  the  English  expression 
"Treble"  for  the  soprano  part  of  a  tetraphonic  vocal  piece),  and 
the  fourth  additional  voice,  Quadruplum.  The  two  latter  voices 
are,  however,  occasionally  called,  respectively,  Superius  and  Con- 
tra-tenor. 

A  form  of  three-voiced  song  had  already,  under  the  name  of 
Faux-Bourdon  (in  English  "Faburden"),  found  favor  with  the  papal 
singers ;  it  is  thus  described  by  the  Milanese  theorist  FRANCHINUS 
GAFOR  died  15"?  2):  "When  the  Tenor  and  the  Cantus  move  in 
one  or  more  Sixths;  the  middle  voice,  to  wit,  the  Contra-tenor, 
always  sustains  the  Fourth  under  the  Cantus  and  the  upper  Third 
against  the  Tenor",  Accordingly,  the  Faux-bourdon  is  nothing  else 
than  a  series  of  Sextachords  vchords  of  the  Sixth),  and  although 
more  euphonious,  yet  not  less  mechanical,  than  HUCBALD'S  "Orga- 
num".  Its  name  is  explained  in  various  conflicting  senses  by  the 
writers  of  the  Middle  Age;  the  designation  "False  Bass"  (Faux 
Bourdon)  was  probably  originally  applied  to  the  highest  voice, 
for,  although  the  doctrine  of  the  Triad  and  its  inversions  was  un- 
known to  the  musicians  of  the  Middle  Age,  their  ear  must  have 


THE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY  OP  THE  NETHFRLANDER8.  47 

taught  them  that  the  Third  was  by  its  very  nature  not  adapted  to 
the  Bass-leading  and  belonged  properly  to  the  upper  voice.*  — 
Other  important  innovations  of  the  14th  century  are:  the  use  of 
Syncopation,  by  means  of  which  the  ear  became  familiar  with  the 
previously  tabooed  dissonances,  as  also  of  the  rests  in  the  prin- 
cipal melody  (Cantus  Firmus),  which  served  the  double  purpose  of 
mitigating  the  monotony  of  the  constantly  repeated  chant,  and  of 
gaining  for  the  accompanying  voices  greater  freedom  of  move- 
ment. But  greatly  as  the  art  of  polyphonic  composition  was  pro- 
moted by  all  this,  yet  along  side  of  it  improvised  counterpoint  still 
remained  a  considerable  time  in  use.  This  so-called  "contrapunto 
a  mente",  in  which  not  only  one  voice  but  several  improvised  an 
accompaniment  to  the  Cantus  firmus,  must  indeed  have  satisfied 
higher  artistic  requirements  in  exceptional  cases  only,  as  the  severe 
criticisms  of  it  by  writers  on  music  attest.  Supposing,  however, 
a  concourse  of  singers  sufficiently  gifted  and  practised  —  for  here, 
too,  certain  rules  had  to  be  known  and  observed  —  to  produce 
an  artistically  correct  polyphony,  the  performances  of  these  contra- 
puntists "a  mente"  certainly  appear  incomparably  worthier  of  esteem 
than  those  of  the  reproductive  artists  of  our  time,  who  are  accus- 
tomed to  have  the  composer  write  out  for  th°m  not  only  the  notes, 
but  also  the  embellishments  and  nuances  of  the  piece  to  be  per- 
formed, in  which  case  there  can  of  course  be  no  such  thing  as 
reproduction  in  the  higher  sense  of  the  word. 

The  period  of  the  Netherlandic  composers,  which  now  fol- 
lows, beginning  with  the  re-establishment  of  the  Papal  chair  at 
Rome  (1376),  is  opened  by  WILHELM  DUPAY,  from  the  Belgian 


•  Altogether  different  from  the  above- described  Faux-bourdon  is  the  sim- 
ilarly named  manner  of  singing  still  in  use  in  the  Catholic  Church,  an  ex- 
ample of  which,  among  others,  is  to  be  found  in  the  celebrated  "Miserere"  of 
Allegri  (died  1 652).  This  species  of  Faux-bourdon  consists  in  a  regular  four- 
voiced  setting,  in  which  a  Gregorian  melody  is  uccompanied  by  three  voices 
in  consonances  only  and  in  notes  of  equal  value,  thus  without  actual  mensural 
division.  Through  this  extremely  simple  harmonization  the  Gregorian  Chant 
was  enriched  by  a  new  means  of  expression,  without  losing  its  character  of 
sublime  simplicity.  For  the  sake  of  completeness  mention  must  here  be  made 
of  still  a  third  kind  of  Faux-bourdon,  having,  again,  nothing  in  common  with 
the  foregoing  species,  which  is  simply  the  execution  of  a  Gregorian  melody 
in  the  Boss,  on  the  Organ,  to  which  a  singer  improvises  a  figured  counter- 
point 


48  THE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDER!. 

province  of  Hennegau,  who,  probably  with  many  of  his  country- 
men, had  followed  the  Pope  from  Avignon,  and  figures  in  a  cata- 
logue of  the  singers  of  the  Papal  chapel  in  Rome,  of  the  year  1380. 
He  is  the  first  of  all  mediaeval  composers  whose  works  shown  real 
style.  He  employs  for  the  first  time  rests  in  the  middle  voices 
also,  whereby  melody  and  voice-leading  acquire  a  certain  inde- 
pendence. Here  the  imitations  which  MACHAUD  only  timidly  intro- 
duced take  the  form  of  the  Canon,  then  called  Fugue,  from  the 
Latin  "fuga"  (flight),  "because"  —  as  the  Hamburg  musicographer 
MATTHESON  says  —  "one  voice  seems  to  fly  away  from  the  other 
and  in  that  flight  is  pursued  in  a  pleasant  way";  whilst  by  Canon 
was  meant  a  rule  for  the  singer,  the  summary  of  the  directions 
for  deciphering  the  mensural  notation,  which  was  becoming  more 
and  more  intricate.  The  origin  of  the  methods  of  notation  which 
were  in  favor  with  the  Netherlandic  composers,  is  to  be  sought 
in  the  fact  that  the  newly  acquired  art  of  counterpoint  was  re- 
garded preeminently  as  a  means  of  exercising  the  sagacity  of  the 
composer  as  well  as  of  the  performer.  Primarily  the  canonical 
imitations  gave  occasion  for  replacing  the  notes  by  signs.  In  the 
simple  canon  it  sufficed  to  give  the  notation  of  but  one  voice,  the 
entrance  of  the  other  voices  being  indicated  by  a  sign.  New  signs 
were  necessary  when  it  was  first  permitted  to  begin  the  imitating 
voice  in  a  different  pitch  from  the  first  voice;  moreover,  in  the 
canon  "by  augmentation"  and  "by  diminution",  in  which  the  tones 
of  the  second  voice  were  to  have  double  or  half  the  length  of 
those  of  the  first.  At  last  there  existed  so  many  signs,  not  strictly 
belonging  to  notation,  that  a  composition  for  many  voices,  even 
when  these  entered  together,  could  be  written  down  with  but  one 
series  of  notes,  it  being  left  to  the  sagacity  of  the  performers  to 
divine  the  composer's  intention  by  means  of  the  annexed  signs.* 
The  words  of  the  text  were  treated  by  the  Netherlandic 
composers,  in  their  one-sided  contrapuntal  zeal,  with  almost  no 


*  Sometimes  the  signs  were  supplied  by  mysterious  texts,  as :  "Whoso- 
ever followeth  me,  walketh  not  in  darkness",  this  being  a  warning  to  the  se- 
cond voice  to  pass  over  the  black  notes  of  the  first.  That  these  aids,  too,  were 
occasionally  spurned,  is  proved  by  a  "Eyrie"  of  the  famous  OCKENHEIM,  which 
is  provided  with  a  sign  of  interrogation  only,  and  requires  the  singer  to 
guess  not  only  the  entrance  of  the  successive  voices  but  also  the  meter  clef 
and  key. 


TOE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDER.  49 

consideration;  it  sufficed  to  write  down,  in  a  Mass,  for  instance, 
the  initial  words,  leaving  it  to  the  singer  to  adapt,  in  the  farther 
course  of  the  piece,  the  syllables  to  the  tones  as  best  he  could. 
With  this  agrees  the  practice,  already  mentioned  (p.  46),  of  the 
mediaeval  vocal  composers  of  having  in  a  piece  of  music  two  differ- 
ent sets  of  words  sung  at  the  same  time,  one  of  sacred,  the  other 
of  secular  character.  The  origin  of  this  practice  is  easily  shown. 
The  composers,  in  order  to  apply  their  whole  skill  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  as  yet  undeveloped  polyphonic  style,  found  themselves 
obliged,  before  every  thing  else,  to  dispense  with  inventing  orig- 
inal themes  and  to  take,  as  subjects  of  their  pieces,  in  the  prin- 
cipal as  well  as  in  the  counter  voice,  exclusively  melodies  already 
existing.  But  to  employ,  simultaneously  with  the  Gregorian  chant 
a  second  church-tune  as  counter  voice,  was  hazardous,  as  the  church 
had  prescribed  for  each  festival  a  special  melody,  so  that  it  would 
be  a  disturbance  of  this  order  to  make  use  of  a  different  church- 
tune.  Thus  it  came  about  that  for  every  kind  of  sacred  composi- 
tion the  melody  of  a  f oik-song  was  preferably  employed  for  the 
counter  voice.  If  at  the  same  time  the  text  was  left  untouched, 
the  reason  for  this  lay  entirely  in  the  indifference,  already  noticed, 
of  composers  with  regard  to  the  text  in  general.  The  reproach 
of  frivolity,  on  account  of  such  a  mixture  of  the  spiritual  and  the 
secular,  applies  as  little  to  them  as  to  the  painters,  for  instance, 
of  the  14th  and  15th  centuries,  who  represented  in  immediate  prox- 
imity to  the  Virgin  with  the  Child  Jesus  the  artist's  family  in  the 
costume  of  their  day.  It  belonged  to  the  very  spirit  of  the  age, 
that  the  sacred  was  not  profaned  by  contact  with  the  secular, 
rather,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  latter  was  through  the  former 
lifted  up  and  ennobled. 

Netherlandic  art  reaches  a  second  stage  of  development  with 
OCKENHEIM,  born  1430,  at  Termonde  in  Flanders,  who  is  right- 
fully considered  the  father  of  counterpoint.  With  him  the  canon 
gains  in  extension  and  importance,  appearing  not  only  in  the 
unison  and  the  octave,  but  in  the  fifth  and  the  fourth  also.  True, 
OCKENHEIM  too  carried  the  contrapuntal  subtleties  to  excess;  hence 
in  most  of  his  music  labored  workmanship  is  painfully  apparent, 
as,  for  instance,  in  a  Motet  for  thirty-six  voices,  of  which  latter 
probably  only  six  or  nine  were  noted,  each  one  taking  the  form 
of  a  canon  for  six  or  four  voices,  which  could  finally  be  sung 

4 


50  THE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDERS. 

simultaneously.  At  the  same  time,  we  notice  in  him,  as  often  aa 
he  feels  himself  free  from  the  constraint  of  polyphony,  an  ingenious 
design  underlying  the  composition,  and  an  aspiration  after  ex- 
pressive melody. 

The  achievements  of  which  the  Netherlandic  counterpoint  was 
capable  attained  their  climax  in  JOSQUIN  DES  PEES,  born  1450,  at 
Conde  in  the  north  of  France.  He  is  distinguished  from  his  pre- 
decessors essentially  by  the  boldness  and  freedom  of  his  creation ; 
lie  is  the  first  in  the  long  series  of  Netherlandic  masters  to  show 
true  geniality  in  his  works.  He  was  not  an  over- strict  follower 
of  the  existing  rules,  as  his  pupil  COCLIUS  tells  us,  though  he  was 
thoroughly  familiar  with  them  and  in  his  teaching  rigidly  enforced 
their  observance.  As  creative  musician  he  certainly  made  unre- 
strained use  of  the  prerogative  of  genius  to  be  a  law  to  itself,  and, 
with  his  perfect  mastery  of  the  forms,  his  artistic  tendency  to 
freedom  was  an  entirely  legitimate  one.  This  opinion  is  expressed 
by  LUTHER  also,  who  was  one  of  his  most  ardent  admirers,  in  the 
following  words :  "JosQUiN  is  a  master  of  the  notes ;  they  had  to 
do  as  he  willed,  other  composers  must  do  as  the  notes  will";  and 
of  his  compositions  he  says :  "they  are  joyous,  gentle  and  lovely, 
not  forced  nor  constrained  and  not  slavishly  tied  to  the  rules,  but 
free  as  the  song  of  the  finch".  The  pedantry  clinging  to  the  Nether- 
landic school  is,  to  be  sure,  even  in  him  by  no  means  entirely 
conquered,  and  when  he  gives  two  musical  settings,  for  instance, 
of  the  genealogy  of  Christ,  once  according  to  MATTHEW'S  gospel, 
again  according  to  that  of  LUKE,  here,  as  a  matter  of  course,  a 
genial  flight  is  quite  out  of  the  question.  On  other  occasions, 
however,  and  even  when,  according  to  the  fashion  of  his  time, 
he  unites  various  melodies  and  texts  in  the  same  piece,  it  is  clearly 
shown  by  the  expressiveness  of  the  musical  setting  and  its  adap- 
tation to  the  poetry,  how  far  he  soars  above  his  predecessors.  In 
such  cases,  moreover,  he  and  his  school  manifest  the  endeavor  at 
all  events  to  apply  texts  agreeing  in  purport,  as  for  instance  in 
his  Dirge  on  the  death  of  his  master  OCKENHEIM  -  wLa  deplo- 
ration  de  JEAN  OCKENHEIM"  (given  in  FORKEL'S  History  of  Music, 
vol.  II,  p.  542),  in  which  to  the  "Requiem  seternam"  of  the  tenor 
four  accompanying  voices  sound  in  the  vernacular  the  lament 


THE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  TI1E  NETHERLANDER*.  5} 

"Nymphes  des  bois,  deesses  des  fontaines, 
Chantres  experts  de  toutes  nations, 
Changez  vos  voix  fort  claires  et  hautainet 
En  cris  tranchanta  et  lamentations." 

As  regards  the  attitude  of  JOSQUIN'S  music  towards  poetry,  it  is 
worthy  of  note  that  he  was  the  first  to  recognize,  besides  the 
musical,  also  the  esthetic  value  of  the  dissonants  and  to  apply 
the  latter,  consciously  and  intentionally,  to  the  expression  of  pas- 
sionate emotions. 

From  the  period  when  it  had  become  recognized  as  the  task 
of  the  composer  to  invent  not  merely  artificial  tone-combinations 
but  also  expressive  melodies,  the  musical  mission  of  the  Nether- 
landers  was  ended.  If  the  other  nations,  rightly  acknowledging 
their  own  inferior  talent  for  it,  had  left  to  the  Netherlanders 
alone  the  development  of  counterpoint,  and  also  cheerfully  con- 
ceded to  them  during  a  century  and  a  half  all  the  musical  honors 
in  the  capitals  of  Europe,  they  themselves  now  enter  anew  upon 
the  musical  stage,  in  the  foremost  rank  the  Italians,  who  soon 
succeed  in  gaining  for  themselves  the  supremacy  in  the  realm  of 
music.  The  improvements  which  just  at  this  time  had  been  made 
in  Italy  in  the  art  of  multiplying  copies  of  music,  likewise  con- 
tributed in  a  remarkable  degree  to  the  revival  of  the  musical  life 
of  the  Peninsula.  Already  in  JOSQUIN'S  time  OTTAVIANO  DEI  PE- 
TRUCCI,  named,  after  his  birthplace,  a  town  in  the  States  of  the 
Church,  da  Fossomorone,  had  invented  music-printing  with  movable 
metal  types.  Until  then  the  clumsy  wood-cut  notes,  in  vogue  since 
the  invention  of  printing  (1440),  had  had  to  suffice,  or,  if  elegance 
of  style  was  required,  those  artistically  ornate  copies  even  now 
so  admired  had  to  be  prepared,  the  possession  of  which  could  be 
afforded  only  by  princely  personages  or  ecclesiastical  corporations. 
This  latter  case  implied  of  course  restriction  to  one  single  copy, 
to  be  used  by  several  singers  at  once,  whereby,  notwithstanding 
the  largeness  and  plainness  of  the  characters,  correct  performance 
was  rendered  difficult,  especially  that  of  polyphonic  music,  although 
here  the  voice  were  noted  down  —  not  under  one  another,  as  in 
our  scores,  but  —  each  one  by  itself,  standing  next  to  each  other 
over  the  whole  surface  of  the  book.  PETRUCCI'S  edition,  the  first 
of  which,  a  collection  of  96  three-voiced  and  four-voiced  songs 
by  Netherlandic  composers,  appeared  in  the  year  1501,  remedied 


52  THE  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDER8. 

all  these  inconveniences.  For  beauty  and  clearness  his  impressions, 
judged  even  by  modern  standards,  leave  nothing  to  be  desired, 
and  it  is  only  to  be  regretted  that  the  works  issued  by  him  are 
printed,  after  the  custom  of  that  time,  not  in  score  but  in  books 
of  single  parts,  so  that  the  loss  of  one  of  these  books  has  in 
many  cases  involved  that  of  the  whole  work. 

The  transfer  of  the  musical  supremacy  in  favor  of  Italy  which 
was  effected  in  the  course  of  the  10th  century,  might  seem  strange 
to  us  if  we  did  not  remember  that  even  before  this  epoch  the 
artistic  fecundity  of  the  Italian  soil  had  by  no  means  been  dor- 
mant. Here,  a  century  earlier,  the  spirit  had  been  awakened  that 
impelled  mankind  to  search  for  the  lost  beauty  of  antiquity  and 
to  be  inspired  by  it  to  new  artistic  deeds.  The  poet-constellation 
DANTE,  PETRARCA  and  BOCCACCIO  had  heralded  the  dawn  that 
now  began  to  brighten  the  long  night  of  the  Middle  Age.  DANTE 
shows  himself  by  no  means  yet  emancipated  from  the  views  of 
the  scholastic  philosophy;  in  his  grand  poem  of  the  Last  Judg- 
ment the  Christian  theology  appears  still  interwoven  with  the 
antique  world,  and  in  applying  all  the  wealth  of  his  imagination 
to  present  a  powerful  picture  of  the  all-embracing,  all-ruling 
Roman  hierarchy,  he  reminds  us  somewhat  of  those  musicians 
who  —  as  mentioned  on  page  38  —  brought  the  musical  system 
with  all  its  particulars  into  symbolical  relation  to  the  church.  Of 
one  important  aid  to  the  knowledge  of  antiquity  DANTE  could  not 
avail  himself:  the  Greek  language  was  in  his  time  —  he  died  1321 
—  as  good  as  lost,  and  he  had  to  be  satisfied  with  cultivating 
his  sense  for  poetic  forms  through  the  Latin  poets,  especially 
Virgil.  More  fortunate  than  he,  PETRARCH,  the  singer  of  love,  had 
during  his  sojourn  at  the  papal  court  at  Avignon  (1339)  enjoyed 
the  opportunity,  through  the  teaching  of  a  resident  scholar  from 
Constantinople,  to  become  acquainted  with  the  Greek  language, 
as  also  with  PLATO'S  works.  Lastly,  his  friend  BOCCACCIO  (died 
1375)  had  already  in  his  youth  acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  language  and  science  of  the  Greeks;  at  his  instigation  a  chair 
for  Greek  language  and  literature  was  erected  in  Florence,  whose 
occupant,  LEONTIUS  PILATUS,  undertook  to  explain  to  young 
students  for  the  first  time  HOMER'S  poems  and  PLATO'S  writings. 
And  how  far  BOCCACCIO  was  from  scholasticism,  with  its  belief  in 
the  exclusive  saving  power  of  the  Catholic  Church,  is  shown,  for 


r::n  MUSICAL  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDER.  53 

example,  by  the  story,  given  in  his  "Decameron"*  (afterwards 
reproduced  by  LESSING  in  his  "Nathan") ,  of  The  Three  Rings", 
which  places  Christianity,  as  a  not  absolutely  but  only  relatively 
true  creed,  on  an  equality  with  other  religions. 

The  enthusiasm  for  antiquity  kindled  by  these  men  was 
powerfully  nurtured  by  means  of  the  great  number  of  Greek 
scholars  who,  after  the  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks 
(1453),  sought  refuge  in  Italy,  and  were  received  with  open  arms 
not  only  at  the  art-loving  court  of  Cosimo  dei  Medici  at  Florence, 
but  also  at  the  other  seats  of  culture  on  the  peninsula.  To  them 
Europe  owed  the  complete  redemption  from  the  intellectual  thral- 
dom of  the  Middle  Age,  the  appearance  at  last  of  the  day  of  new 
birth,  of  the  epoch  of  the  Renascence,  so  important  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  music  also;  it  was  to  them  that  SCHILLER,  in  his 
poem  The  Artists"  (Die  Kunstler)  addresses  the  words:** 

"Ye  snatched  —  when  chased  Barbarian  Hosts  before  — 
From  sacred  hearths  the  last  yet  living  brand; 
From  the  dishallowed  Orient  Altar  bore, 
And  brought  it  glimmering  to  the  Western  Land, 
As  from  the  East  the  lovely  Exile  goes, 
Fair  on  the  West  a  young  Aurora  glows: 
And  all  the  flowers  Ionian  shores  could  yield 
Blush  forth,  reblooming  in  the  Hesperian  Field. 
Fair  Nature  glassed  its  image  on  the  soul, 
From  the  long  Night  the  mists  began  to  roll; 
And  o'er  the  world  of  Mind,  adorned  again, 
Light's  holy  Goddess  reassumed  her  reign." 

*  A  collection  of  a  hundred  tales,  whose  title  is  compounded  from  the 
Greek  "deka"  (ten)  and  "hemera"  (day),  the  narration  of  them  being  apportioned 
to  ten  days. 

**  The  English  version  is  by  Sir  EDWA&D  BCLWEB  LYTTON,  Bart 

Translator. 


V. 

LUTHER'S  REFORMATION  AND  THE  RENASCENCE. 


The  revolution  of  the  intellectual  life  in  Europe,  brought 
about  through  the  re-awakening  of  interest  for  classical  antiquity, 
affected  the  domain  of  music  far  later  than  that  of  poetry  and 
the  plastic  arts.  The  reason  of  this  is  to  be  found  proximately 
in  the  lack  of  a  musical  antique*  while  the  poet,  as  also  the 
painter,  the  sculptor  and  the  architect  met  at  every  step  the 
masterpieces  of  their  predecessors  in  antiquity,  and  found  in  them 
the  stimulus  and  the  pattern  for  their  own  creations,  to  the  musi- 
cian the  direct  connection  with  the  past  was  denied.  The  few 
relics  of  ancient  Greek  music  which  were  discovered  at  that  time 
could  give  absolutely  no  idea  of  its  nature  and  effect,  so  that  the 
composer  of  the  period  of  the  Renascence  found  himself  thrown 
utterly  upon  his  imagination,  and  the  naive,  symmetrical  beauty 
of  classical  antiquity  could  be  at  best  only  of  indirect  interest  to 
him  for  his  art.  A  second  reason  why  music  remained  behind  the 
other  arts  lay  in  the  external  affairs  of  Italy,  in  that  peculiar 
medley  of  rudeness  and  culture  by  which  precisely  the  budding- 
time  of  the  Renascence  is  characterized.  In  consequence  of  the 
incessant  contests  between  the  temporal  and  the  spiritual  power 
a  strong,  centralized  government  and  a  monarchical  sentiment 
had  not  been  able  to  establish  themselves;  the  sovereign  cities 
and  the  petty  princes  were  obliged  to  have  not  only  the  interests 
of  science  and  art  but  also  their  material  security  constantly  in 
view,  and  under  these  circumstances  it  was  precisely  here  that 
the  Middle  Age,  with  its  conditions  regulated  by  the  law  of  the 
strong  arm,  could  be  continued  longer  than  elsewhere  in  Europe 
The  Italy  of  the  popes  JULIUS  II.  and  LEO  X.  (1503—1513—1521) 


LUTHER'S  REFORMATION  AXD  THE  RENASCENCE.  55 

appears  simultaneously  behind  the  rest  of  the  world  and  in  advance 
of  it:  the  former  as  concerns  the  sense  of  justice,  and  respect 
for  property  and  human  life,  the  latter  in  regard  of  the  feeling 
for  the  beautiful,  purity  of  taste  and  the  initiative  in  art. 

If  now,  owing  to  the  development  of  the  human  body  that 
external  laxity  brought  with  it,  sculpture  and  painting  could  reach 
that  height  on  which  at  the  time  of  the  above-mentioned  popea 
we  see  these  arts  in  the  works  of  a  LEONARDO  DA  VINCI,  RA- 
PHAEL, MICHAEL  ANGELO,  the  creations  of  musicians  remained 
unaffected  by  these  influences.  It  is  true  that,  as  we  have  seen, 
individual  genial  natures  —  JOSQUIN  DES  PRES,  for  instance  — 
manifested  the  tendency  to  expressive  composition,  thus  implying 
the  need  of  a  regeneration  of  music  also;  yet  on  the  whole  the 
musical  world  remains,  even  after  the  death  of  this  master  (1521), 
in  the  bonds  of  mediaeval  restraint.  Even  at  this  time  the  major- 
ity of  composers  continue  to  neglect  the  melodic  expression  and 
the  poetic  subject-matter  of  vocal  music  in  favor  of  contrapuntal 
combinations,  and  as  late  as  the  year  1 549,  thus  nearly  a  century 
after  the  Renascence  began  with  the  emigration  of  the  Greek 
scholars  expelled  from  Constantinople,  an  Italian  writer  could 
pronounce  the  following  judgment  upon  the  performances  of  the 
papal  singers:  'They  count  it  their  whole  joy  and  their  whole 
merit,  that  at  the  same  time  that  one  sings  "Sanctus"  another 
sings  "Sabaoth"  and  a  third,  "Gloria  tua",  and  this  jumble  is 
accompanied  by  a  howling,  a  bellowing  and  growling  more  re- 
sembling the  cries  of  cats  in  January  than  the  fragrant  flowers 
of  May"  * 

To  turn  music  aside  from  the  narrow  tendency  given  it  by 
the  Netherlandic  contrapuntists,  in  order  to  lead  it  onward  to 
nobler  and  higher  aims,  a  stronger  impulse  was  needed  than  the 


•  As  for  the  first  part  of  this  criticism,  the  neglectful  treatment  of  the 
text-words,  the  present  age  is  by  no  means  justified  in  looking  down  with 
disdain  upon  the  performances  of  the  papal  singers,  as  above  described;  • 
counterpart  to  this  is  found  in  a  much  lauded  work  of  the  latest  music- 
literature,  and  indeed,  strange  to  say,  in  a  composer  who  generally  aimed  in 
his  vocal  music  to  treat  the  poetry  with  more  consideration  than  his  prede- 
cessors, —  in  ROBERT  SCHUMANN.  In  the  latter's  "Faust"  music  he  makes  the 
three  female  penitents  simultaneously  sing  syllabically  different  text-words,  in 
which  all  comprehension  of  them  is  of  course  utterly  out  of  the  question. 


56  LUTHER'S  REFORMATION  AND  THE  RENASCENCE. 

art- spirit  awakened  in  Italy  had  been  able  to  give.  It  was  reserved 
to  the  Augustinian  monk  of  Wittenberg  and  subsequently  pro- 
fessor Dr.  MARTIN  LUTHER  to  succeed,  as  in  the  domain  of  reli- 
gion so  also  in  that  of  music,  in  breaking  down  the  bulwarks  of 
mediaeval  tyranny  and  bringing  about  the  liberation  of  minds. 
Through  LUTHER'S  reformation  was  removed,  first  of  all,  the  ban 
resting  on  church-music  since  the  council  of  Laodicea,  which  had 
directed  that  the  singing  at  divine  service  should  be  committed 
exclusively  to  the  singers  appointed  to  that  end.  For,  just  as 
protestantism,  in  opposition  to  Catholicism,  made  its  special  aim 
the  intellectual  independence  of  the  individual,  so  too  its  founder 
regarded  the  singing  of  the  congregation  as  an  essential  condition 
of  public  worship  and  an  effective  means  of  awakening  an  inde- 
pendent religious  sentiment.  Accordingly,  LUTHER  exerted  himself 
personally  and  with  all  zeal  in  improving  and  ennobling  the  con- 
gregational singing  in  his  church,  and  with  his  great  musical  talent 
he  could  himself  point  out  the  way  in  which  this  end  was  most 
quickly  to  be  accomplished.  Correctly  appreciating  the  good  that 
Catholicism  had  done  for  music,  he  primarily  selected  from  the 
ancient  Latin  church-song  such  melodies  as  were  rhythmically  like 
the  folk-song  and  hence  specially  likely  to  be  caught  up  by  the 
popular  ear.  The  Gregorian  chant  (cantus  planus)  was,  as  being 
wholly  unrhythmical,  rejected  by  him;  LUTHER  expresses  his  aver- 
sion to  it,  on  the  occasion  of  a  eulogy  on  polyphonic  music,  in 
these  words :  "Whoever  has  no  love  for  it  (polyphonic  music)  must 
in  truth  be  a  clumsy  blockhead,  who  does  not  deserve  to  hear 
such  delightful  music,  but  only  the  asinine  braying  of  the  Gre- 
gorian chant  or  the  singing  of  dogs  or  pigs." 

As  a  second  source  for  the  reform  of  congregational  singing 
LUTHER  utilized  the  copious  supply  of  German  spiritual  songs 
which,  even  long  before  the  Reformation,  had,  as  constituent  part 
of  the  liturgy,  alternated  with  the  Gregorian  chant,  especially 
the  songs  addressed  to  the  Virgin  that  had  been  popularly  sung 
in  the  13th  century,  the  words  being  now  altered  so  as  to  apply 
to  Christ.  He  drew,  however,  still  richer  material  from  a  third 
source :  the  secular  folk-song,  only  the  music,  of  course,  being 
utilized.  The  employment  of  secular  song-melodies  for  church- 
tunes  had  been  a  common  practice  from  the  time  of  the  Nether- 


LUTHER'S  REFORMATION  AND  THE  RENASCENCE.  57 

landic  contrapuntists,  and  it  was  therefore  doubly  natural  to  make 
up  in  this  way  for  the  lack  of  protestant  church-tunes.*  This 
transplanting  of  secular  song-tunes  into  the  Church  gave  offence, 
to  be  sure,  to  the  stricter  theologians:  "what  has  once  been  de- 
dicated to  the  world  and  Satan"  -  said  they  —  "should  be  kept 
outside  of  the  church".  LUTHER,  however,  was  of  the  opinion  that 
Satan  could  not  be  a  lover  of  music  and  would  not  begrudge  the 
protestants  the  theft  of  his  property;  unshaken  in  his  conviction 
that  a  style  of  music  speaking  to  the  heart  of  the  people  must 
powerfully  promote  the  profounder  and  purer  theory  of  life  aimed 
at  by  Protestantism,  he  proceeded  without  delay  to  carry  out  his 
plans  of  musical  reform.  For  all  his  own  thorough  and  many-sided 
musical  education,  he  did  not  disdain  the  advice  and  aid  of  pro- 
fessionals in  his  work.  He  summoned  to  him  at  Wittenberg  JOHN 
WALTHER,  music-director  to  FREDERICK  THE  WISE,  and  in  co-oper- 
ation with  him,  as  also  with  the  Wittenberg  singing-master  CON- 
RAD RUPFF,  produced  in  1524  the  first  protestant  hymn-book 
under  the  title  "Spiritual  Song-booklet"  (Geystlich  Gesangbuch- 
lein),  containing  38  German  and  5  Latin  songs,  set  for  four  voices 

*  Very  many  of  the  German  chorals  most  renowned  for  their  beauty  and 
devotional  character  were  originally  used  as  humorous  songs,  love-songs,  etc. 
The  practice  of  adopting  secular  compositions,  such  as  modern  popular  songs, 
pieces  from  modern  operas  and  instrumental  works,  to  sacred  words  for  use 
in  public  worship,  has  of  late  years  been  very  common  in  the  United  States 
and  evidently  has  the  approval  of  the  majority  of  the  congregations,  especially 
of  those  characterized  as  "fashionable",  who  are  not  supposed  to  take  part  in 
the  liturgical  singing,  but  delegate  this  branch  of  public  worship  to  a  paid 
choir.  If,  however,  in  this  matter  of  adapting  secular  song-tunes  to  liturgical 
purposes  the  rule  has  been,  in  more  recent  times  (otherwise  than  in  Luther's 
time),  to  draw  the  line  at  humorous  songs,  yet  exceptions  to  this  rule  are  not 
wanting.  One  of  the  most  notable  of  these  is  the  case  of  a  church-tune  (?) 
published  under  the  name  of  "Old  Coronation",  which,  set  to  the  words  "All 
hail  the  power  of  Jesus'  name",  has  for  many  years  had  an  enormous  popu- 
larity throughout  the  United  States,  especially  among  the  so-called  "evangelical** 
sect*.  This  tune  was  originally  composed  for  an  old  English  pot-house  song, 
some  of  the  stanzas  of  which  are  too  indecent  to  print,  and  certainly,  from  a 
musical  stand-point  the  tune  is  quite  worthy  of  the  words.  The  Germans  of 
LUTHER'S  day,  happily,  could  utilize  for  sacred  purposes  the  tunes  even  of  the 
humorous  songs  of  their  time,  without  incongruity  from  a  musical  stand-point, 
because  of  the  beauty  and  dignity  inherent  in  those  tunes  independently  of 
their  accidental  association  with  their  words.  Trantlator. 


58  LUTHER'S  REFORMATION  AND  THE  RENASCENCE. 

by  WALTHER.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  here  the  melody  now 
and  then  occurs  in  the  upper  voice,  whereas  it  had  until  then 
always,  in  polyphonic  setting,  been  sung  by  the  tenor  voice.  In 
the  course  of  time  the  melody  became  more  and  more  generally 
allotted  to  the  upper  voice;  in  the  last  edition  of  the  "Song- 
booklet"  (1551)  are  found  fifty  songs  arranged  in  this  way,  while 
in  the  first  there  are  but  two. 

As  to  the  manner  of  LUTHER'S  co-operation  in  the  production 
of  this  hymn-book  there  was  for  a  long  time  uncertainty.  He  was 
credited  with  the  composition  of  a  large  number  of  the  melodies 
contained  in  it,  whereas,  according  to  the  latest  investigations  he 
can  claim  the  authorship  of  only  three  of  them,  viz:  "Ein'  feste 
Burg  ist  unser  Gott",  "Jesaias  dem  Propheten  das  geschah",  and 
"Wir  glauben  all'  an  einen  Gott".  It  should  be  remembered,  in 
this  connexion,  that,  as  in  the  Middle  Age  so  too  in  LUTHER'S 
time,  the  work  of  the  "composer"  was  divided  between  two  per- 
sons: the  inventor  of  the  melody  was  not  at  the  same  time  he 
who  artistically  arranged  it.  This  division  of  art-labor  may  appear 
to  our  age  as  implying  a  pitiful  limitation  of  powers:  yet  we 
should  not  forget  that  something  similar  exists  among  ourselves, 
as  when  the  song-composer,  e.  g.,  relies  for  his  text  upon  another 
person,  which  to  a  future  generation,  possibly  again  uniting,  after 
the  manner  of  antiquity,  the  functions  of  poet  and  composer  in 
one  person,  might  appear  no  less  pitiful  than  the  mediaeval  prac- 
tice alluded  to  appears  to  us. 

The  effect  of  the  LUTHERAN  congregational  song  was  not 
confined  to  the  protestant  church  only;  its  efficacy  in  promoting 
the  religious  life  was  acknowledged  in  catholic  circles  also,  and 
it  was  even  asserted  that  LUTHER'S  reform  owed  its  success  more 
to  the  singing  introduced  by  him  than  to  his  doctrine.  More  griev- 
ous than  ever  appeared  now  the  abuses  which,  under  the  sway 
of  the  Netherlandic  counterpoint,  had  crept  into  and  established 
themselves  in  the  artistic  music  of  the  Roman  church,  and  the 
indignation  they  caused  became  so  great  in  influential  circles,  that 
the  cardinals  assembled  at  the  Council  of  Trent  (1545  — 15(,3) 
seriously  raised  the  question  whether  the  polyphonic  or  figurate 
music  should  not  be  utterly  banished  from  the  church,  as  detract- 
ing from,  rather  than  contributing  to,  the  dignity  of  the  divine 
service.  Meanwhile,  however,  in  PIER  LUIGI,  called  (froni  his  birth- 


LUTHER'S  REFORMATION  AND  THE  RENASCENCE.  [>9 

place,  near  Rome)  PALESTRIXA,*  the  master  had  appeared  who  was 
to  prove  that  even  the  most  artistic  music  is  well  calculated  to 
move  and  impress  the  soul,  if  only  it  fulfil  the  chief  requirement 
of  effective  vocal  music  —  intelligibility  of  both  melody  and  words. 
This  condition  had  already  been  fulfilled  by  PALESTRINA  in  his 
"Improperia*  (Reproaches),**  published  in  15f>0,  a  composition  in 
aoble  and  impressive  style  yet  of  great  simplicity,  which  aroused 
luch  admiration  that  Pope  Pius  IV.  commanded  that  they  should 
be  included  among  the  compositions  intended  for  the  celebration 
of  Holy  Week  in  the  Sistine  Chapel.  Their  attention  having  been 
thus  directed  to  PALESTRINA,  the  authorities  appointed  for  reform- 
ing the  catholic  church-music  resolved  to  hazard  an  additional 
and  final  attempt,  and  commissioned  him  to  produce  a  composition 
the  success  of  which  should  be  decisive  as  to  the  retention  of 
figurate  music  in  the  church.  But  the  three  masses  thus  originated, 
especially  the  third,  which  the  composer  dedicated  to  the  memory 
of  his  patron,  pope  MARCELLUS  II.,  and  called  "Missa  Papae  Mar- 
celli",  were  found  so  far  superior  to  the  works  of  previous  com- 
posers, they  so  completely  satisfied  the  requisitions  made  upon 
genuine  church-music,  that  the  judges  assembled  to  decide  the 
question  saw  their  former  doubt  dispelled  at  one  stroke. 

PALESTRINA'S  compositions  have  been  called  "classic"***,  and 
justly,  for  the  term  "classic"  is  generally  applied  to  an  epoch 
whose  artistic  products  exhibit  simple  and  symmetrical  beauty, 
and,  having  originated  independently  of  the  taste  of  the  day,  ex- 
ert a  controlling  and  refining  influence  upon  all  succeeding  gene- 
rations. In  this  sense  we  call  the  palmy  days  of  antique  art  the 
"classical"  age,  and  transfer  this  expression  to  later  times  in  which 


*  Pupil  of  the  Netherlander  CLAUDIO  GOUDIMEL,  known  as  founder  of 
the  first  public  music-school*  at  Rome  (1540),  and  as  musical  compiler  of  the 
ancient  French  metrical  version  of  the  Psalms,  by  MAROT  and  BEZA.  OoUDDfEL 
was  killed,  as  Huguenot,  in  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  eve,  at  Lyons, 
1572. 

*•  A  very  solemn  part  of  the  service  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  for 
Holy  Week,  sung  on  Good  Friday,  and  beginning  with  the  words:  WO  mf 
people,  what  have  I  done  unto  thee?"  etc.  Translator. 

***  Respecting  the  origin  of  the  word  "classic",  it  is  observed  by  BRAND* 
that  "The  Roman  people  were  divided  into  classes  and  the  highest  order  were 
by  preeminence  termed  elastic*.  Hence  the  name  came  to  signify  the  highest 
and  purest  class  of  writers  in  any  language." 


CO  LUTHER'S  REFORMATION  AND  THE  RENASCENCE. 

the  study  of  the  antique  is  revived.  If  now  the  works  of  modern 
musical  art  also  cannot  claim  to  be  "classical"  in  the  strict  sense 
of  the  word,  because  for  lack  of  a  musical  antique  their  value 
cannot  be  determined  in  the  same  manner  as  is  practicable  with 
works  of  poetry  and  of  plastic  art,  yet  our  feeling  tells  us  that 
also  in  the  musical  art-works  produced  in  such  times  there  is  an 
afflatus  of  classical  antiquity.  Quite  especially  do  the  works  of 
PALESTRINA  appear  to  be  filled  with  the  antique  spirit  of  pro- 
portion, of  conciliation,  and  of  a  cheerful  beauty,  with  that  spirit 
which  the  plastic  art  of  his  time  had  assumed  through  direct 
contact  with  the  art-works  of  antiquity.  And  though  his  chord- 
successions,  so  strictly  conformable  to  the  Gregorian  modes,  make 
a  strange  impression  on  modern  ears,  accustomed  as  they  are  to 
the  major  and  the  minor  mode  exclusively,  yet  the  note  of  art- 
less simplicity  characteristic  of  the  works  of  PALESTRINA  and  his 
nearest  followers  must  reveal  itself  even  to  those  to  whom  his  style 
—  the  so-called  "Palestrina-style"  —  has  not  yet  become  familiar. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  PALESTRINA'S  reform  of  the  music 
of  the  church  begins  in  Italy  a  no  less  successful  one  in  the  domain 
of  secular  music.  Here  too  the  polyphonic  song  perfected  by  the 
Netherlander  had  attained  the  exclusive  sovereignty:  the  Madrigal, 
generally  a  five-voiced  secular  song  (originally  Shepherd's-song, 
from  the  Italian  Mandriale,  according  to  some),  had  become  a 
favorite  form  of  writing  with  the  best  composers,  especially  with 
LUCA  MARENZIO,  an  attache  of  the  papal  choir  (1595 — 1599),  and 
was  regarded  as  a  necessary  accompaniment  of  all  occasions,  fes- 
tivals, dramatic  performances,  and  social  gatherings,  at  which  the 
aid  of  music  was  required.  Although  incomparably  more  expressive 
and  diversified,  musically  speaking,  than  the  contemporaneous 
church-music,  as  was  natural,  considering  the  greater  freedom  of 
subject-matter  and  form  of  the  secular  poem,  yet  the  Madrigal 
could  no  longer  satisfy  the  taste  which  had  become  refined  in 
consequence  of  the  study  of  antiquity.  The  desire  for  simpler, 
more  natural  vocal  music  became  stronger  and  stronger,  and  fi- 
nally reached  in  Florence,  in  a  circle  of  antiquarians,  so  decided 
an  expression  that  the  members,  both  amateurs  and  professional 
musicians,  openly  declared  war  against  counterpoint.  To  substitute 
for  it  a  kind  of  music  which  should,  though  but  proximately, 
attain  the  effect  of  the  Greek  tragedy-music  eulogized  by  the 


LUTHER'S  REFORMATION  AMD  THE  RENASCENCE,  61 

ancient  writers,  —  this  was  the  pet-idea  of  the  company  of  men 
of  letters  and  artists  who  under  the  name  of  Camerata  (an  Italian 
word  corresponding  to  our  English  expression  "club")  regularly 
met  at  the  house  of  GIOVANNI  BARDI,  count  of  Vernio,  for  the 
purpose  of  artistic  entertainment.  The  first  step  in  this  direction 
was  taken  by  VINCENZO  GALILEI,  father  of  the  astronomer  Galileo 
Galilei,  who,  impelled  by  the  discovery  of  three  ancient  hymns  in 
the  library  of  the  cardinal  San  Angiolo  at  Rome,*  undertook  to 
compose  songs  for  one  voice  with  accompaniment.  These  songs, 
whose  texts  were  taken  from  DANTE'S  "Inferno"  and  the  "Lamen- 
tations of  Jeremiah"  and  which  the  composer  himself  executed 
with  viola  accompaniment,  gained  from  the  members  of  the  Came- 
rata so  hearty  applause  that  one  of  them,  the  singer  GIULIO  CAC- 
CINI,  also  determined  to  devote  himself  to  the  new  art-species. 
He  went  so  far  in  his  enthusiasm  as  to  style  counterpoint  a 
"laceration"  of  poetry,  and  averred  that  he  had  made  greater  ad- 
vances in  his  art,  through  his  intercourse  with  the  members  of 
the  Camerata  than  through  his  previous  thirty  years'  study  of 
counterpoint.  As  a  practical  result  of  these  views  he  published 
in  HiOl,  under  the  title  "Nuove  Muticfte",  a  collection  of  songs 
after  GALILEI'S  pattern,  and  thus  brought  the  new  art-species,  the 
Solo-song  or  Monody,  before  the  public. 

While  CACCINI  continued  to  give  prominence  in  his  monodies 
to  the  lyric  and  melodic  element,  soon  afterward  the  Florentine 
organist  and  singer,  JACOPO  PERI,  took  a  farther  decisive  step 
towards  the  realization  of  the  ideal  hovering  before  the  minds  of 
the  antiquarians,  by  the  invention  of  an  entirely  new  style  of 
music,  which  he  called  Stile  rappresentativo  or  recitativo.  This 
style,  fetill  in  use  in  the  opera,  occupies  the  middle  ground  be- 
tween song  and  expressive  speech;  it  was  employed  by  PERI  in  his 
music  to  RINUCCINI'S  drama,  "Dafne",  and  gained,  at  the  first 
performance  of  the  work  in  the  circle  of  the  Camerata,  the  un- 
animous applause  of  the  hearers.  There  was  a  general  conviction 
that  the  dramatic  music  of  the  ancients  was  now  actually  re-dis- 
covered ;  and  in  fact  the  conditions,  the  material  for  re-construct- 


*  These  insignificant  fragments  of  Greek  music  were  incapable  cf  afford- 
ing a  foot-hold  for  new  forms,  the  more  so  as  it  was  not  at  that  time  known 
even  how  to  decipher  them;  it  was  only  in  the  last  century  that  the  French- 
man BURETTE  succeeded  in  translating  them  into  modern  notation. 


62  LUTHER'S  REFORMATION  AND  THE  RENASCENCE. 

ing  the  ancient  music-drama  were  present:  the  Chorus,  for  express- 
ing the  sentiments  of  an  ensemble;  the  Arioso,  the  melodic  song 
depicting  the  feelings  of  the  performer,  so  far  as  they  attain  to 
full  expression;  and  lastly  the  Recitative,  for  the  dialogue  and 
for  those  sentiments  that  required  only  a  passing  indication. 

Emboldened  by  the  success  of  their  work,  PERI  and  RINOC- 
CINI  soon  after  ventured  upon  a  second  music-drama,  "Euridice", 
constructed  on  the  same  principles,  a  work  destined  to  form  a 
landmark  in  the  history  of  music;  for  the  performance  of  "Eu- 
ridice" in  Florence  in  1600,  on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of 
Henry  IV.  of  France  and  Maria  de'  Medici ,  ushered  into  life  that 
art-species  which  was  thenceforth  without  interruption  to  occupy 
the  attention  of  the  musical  world:  the  modern  Opera.  The  sim- 
plicity, not  to  say  meagreness,  of  both  the  poetry  and  the  music 
should  not  mislead  us  into  underrating  the  merit  of  both  these 
dramatic  maiden  efforts ;  we  should  rather,  in  view  of  these  works, 
pay  to  the  artistic  genius  of  Italy  the  tribute  of  our  admiration. 
CHRYSANDER  (Life  of  Handel,  Vol.  I.)  admits  that  these  achieve- 
ments of  Italian  genius  would  have  been  impossible  to  any  other 
nation ;  "the  Florentine  Academy,  however",  says  he,  "walked  upon 
the  clouds  of  their  imagination  as  upon  a  paved  road,  and  in  the 
end  attained  what  they  had  proposed  to  themselves  to  reach." 

A  closer  inspection  of  the  new  art-species  reveals,  it  is  true, 
a  very  great  difference  between  it  and  its  Greek  prototype  In 
regard  of  its  relation  to  public  life  and  civilization,  as  also  to 
the  ideas  conditionating  its  existence,  it  remained  as  far  from  the 
antique  tragedy  as  we  can  possibly  conceive.  Born  —  not  of 
religious  conceptions,  but  —  of  courtly  luxury,  the  opera  became 
for  the  time  being  a  monopoly  of  princes  and  the  great,  and  even 
if  the  populace  were  here  and  there  admitted  to  it,  it  could  have 
no  intelligent  comprehension  of  the  subject-matter,  drawn  as  it 
was  exclusively  from  ancient  mythology  and  heroic  legend.  Not 
till  long  afterwards  could  the  opera  abandon  this  exclusive  stand- 
point and  acquire  significance  for  the  culture-life  of  the  masses, 
although  not,  even  then,  in  the  sense  of  its  antiquity-loving  found- 
ers. That,  notwithstanding,  the  labor  of  the  Florentine  camerata 
was  by  no  means  thrown  away,  that  on  the  contrary  the  seed 
sown  by  it  was  even  in  the  course  of  the  next  decennium  to 
bear  abundant  fruit,  will  be  seen  in  the  next  section. 


VL 

ITALIAN  OPERA. 


The  first  important  step  in  its  march  of  development  wa§ 
taken  by  the  new  art-species  discovered  by  the  Florentines  —  the 
modern  opera,  then  styled  Dramma  in  musica,  or  Tragedia  per 
musica  —  not  at  the  place  of  its  birth,  but  at  Venice.  Here 
ADRIAN  WILLAERT  (pronounced  Willart),  one  of  the  last,  but  also 
of  the  greatest,  of  the  Netherlandic  composers  (born  1490,  at 
Bruges,  died  1563),  had  founded  a  school,  whose  influence  was 
in  no  wise  diminished  even  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  Nether- 
landers  from  the  musical  supremacy.  He  had  striven,  with  even 
greatei  success  than  his  countryman  JOSQUIN,  to  make  the  art 
of  tone  serviceable  to  musical  thought,  especially  to  animate  the 
polyphonic  forms  by  means  of  dramatic  expression.  The  very 
external  surroundings  of  the  city  could  not  but  exert  a  stimu- 
lating influence  in  this  direction  upon  the  musician.  As  a  securely 
isolated  commercial  republic,  Venice  had  had  little  or  nothing 
to  suffer  from  the  oppression  of  the  church  and  the  political 
disturbances  that  had  impeded  the  rest  of  Italy  in  its  develop- 
ment, and  far  earlier  here  than  there  the  thought  could  be  enter- 
tained of  giving  art  and  science  a  share  in  social  life.  Through 
the  commercial  relations  with  the  East  there  were  brought  to  the 
city,  in  addition  to  material  prosperity,  manifold  elements  of  cul- 
ture also,  which,  blended  with  the  indigenous  ones,  gave  it  that 
motley,  fantastic  character  which  manifests  itself  with  so  special 
prominence  in  the  works  of  its  architects  and  painters.  But  the 
musician,  in  the  midst  of  a  population  given  up  to  the  cheerful, 
unconstrained  enjoyment  of  life,  would  naturally  feel  with  double 
force  the  prosiness  of  the  mediaeval  art-music,  and  zealously  aim 


64  ITALIAN   OPERA. 

to  bring  the  art  of  tone  nearer  to  the  general  comprehension.  In 
this  WILLAERT  succeeded  by  an  extremely  simple  means:  the  pe- 
culiar architectural  proportions  of  the  church  of  San  Marco,  of 
which  he  was  music-director,  with  its  two  galleries,  each  provided 
with  an  organ,  gave  him  the  idea  of  dividing  his  choral  masses, 
in  order  to  unravel,  as  far  as  possible,  the  entangled  polyphonic 
texture.  The  perfect  success  of  this  attempt  led  him  afterwards 
to  utilize  also  the  smaller  side-galleries  of  the  church  for  placing 
separate  groups  of  singers.  To  WILLAERT  therefore  may  be  justly 
ascribed  the  origin  of  the  principle  of  what  is  called  the  double 
choir  or  chorus. 

With  WILLAERT  his  most  eminent  pupils  CYPRIAN  DE  RORE 
and  GIOSEFFO  ZARLINO  shared  in  the  musical  renown  of  Venice 
during  the  Cinquecento  —  as  the  Italians  call,  by  way  of  abbre- 
viation (instead  of  Mille  cinquecento  =  1500),  the  period  of  the 
Renascence.  The  former,  by  birth  a  Netherlander,  yet  thoroughly 
under  the  musical  influence  of  Italy,  made  an  additional  advance 
in  the  direction  inaugurated  by  his  master,  by  enhancing  in  a 
remarkable  manner  the  capacity  of  music  for  expression  by  means 
of  free  use  of  the  chromatic  element.  In  his  "Chromatic  Madrigals", 
published  in  1544,  the  severe  diatonic  character  of  the  church- 
modes  is,  by  frequent  use  of  the  chromatic  half-step  and  of  the 
consequent  augmented  and  diminished  intervals,  utterly  annulled, 
an  innovation  which,  no  less  successful  than  WILLAERT'S  system 
of  divided  choirs,  contributed  to  the  liberation  of  music  from  the 
tyranny  of  ecclesiastical  ordinances  and  to  its  invigoration  for  the 
solution  of  higher  art-problems.  —  The  latter,  ZARLINO  (born  1517, 
at  Chioggia,  near  Venice),  the  first  Italian  to  attain,  side  by  side 
with  the  Netherlander,  a  high  musical  rank,  was  influential  chiefly 
through  his  theoretical  works,  of  which  some,  especially  his  prin- 
cipal work,  "Istituzioni  harmoniche",  published  in  1557,  have 
attained  the  honor  of  marking  an  epoch.  For,  although  he  was 
greatly  celebrated  by  his  contemporaries  as  composer  also,  and 
appears  —  e.  g. ,  in  his  "Modulationes  sex  vocum",  posthumously 
published  at  Venice,  1566  —  as  a  composer  of  distinguished  ability, 
yet  his  merits  in  this  domain  are  far  behind  those  which  he  ac- 
quired, as  theorist,  in  elucidating  the  intricacies  that  in  his  time 
still  inhered  in  musical  science.  The  maxims  and  doctrines  enun- 
ciated by  him  in  the  above-mentioned  "Istituzioni  harmoniche", 


ITALIAN   OPERA.  65 

and  still  farther  developed  in  the  subsequently  published  THmos- 
trazioni  harmoniche"  and  "Sopplimenti  musicali",  not  only  opened 
new  careers  to  the  musicians  of  his  time,  but  have  also  been 
recognized  by  all  later  generations  as  the  sure  foundation  of 
musical  theory  and  practice. 

One  particular  in  which  ZARLINO'S  agency  was  of  wide-spread- 
ing importance,  is  that  he  took  a  decisive  step  in  the  improvement 
of  the  musical  temperament,  which,  with  the  increasing  cultivation 
of  polyphonic  vocal  and  instrumental  music,  had  become  an  im- 
perative necessity.  By  temperament  is  understood  the  determination 
of  certain  deviations  from  the  natural  measurement  of  the  inter- 
vals, which  determination  is  necessary  in  order  that  the  intervals 
may  in  all  possible  melodic  and  harmonic  inter-relationships  be 
euphonious,  as  being  —  to  use  the  technical  expression  -  "in 
tune";  in  other  words,  in  order  to  adapt  them  to  the  limits  of  the 
Octave,  as  determined  by  the  nature  of  the  human  vocal  organs, 
which  limits  they  in  their  natural  measurement  either  fall  short 
of  or  exceed.*  Up  to  ZARLINO'S  time  the  accepted  system  had 
been  that  of  PYTHAGORAS  ,  which  consisted  of  perfect  **  Fifths. 
The  Third  employed  was  that  resulting  from  a  fourth  upper  Fifth, 

J^  JL  -i  JL 
as .  ct  g,  d,  a,  e,  —  where  e  forms  the  Third  to  c.  This  so-called 

Pythagorean  Third,  as  being  too  sharp  for  a  consonance,  was 
counted  as  a  dissonance.  ZARLINO  established  the  system  named 
after  him  (sometimes  called  the  pure  diatonic  sy stem  ,  of  which 
one  of  the  most  important  features,  practically,  was  the  reduction 
of  the  Third  by  a  minute  interval  ("comma"),  thus  enabling  the 
Third  to  rank  as  consonance.  And  whereas  composers  had  till 
then  shunned  the  Third  in  the  opening  and  the  closing  chord  ot 
their  works,  the  Triad,  the  true  basis  of  all  polyphonic  music, 
could  now  enter  into  its  kingdom  —  for  the  time  being,  of  course, 
only  the  major  Triad.  As  for  the  minor  Third,  it  was  not  yet 


•  See,   on  the  subject  of  "Temperament",  Sedley  Taylor's  "Science  of 
Music",  Chapter  X,  my  "Primer  of  Modern  Musical  Tonality",  Chap.  VI,  etc. 

Translator. 

•*  Perfect,  that  is,  in  the  acoustic  sense,  not  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
term  has  (unfortunately,  as  I  think)  so  long  been  applied  to  a  species  of  Fifth 
more  appropriately  styled,  by  advanced  modern  music-theorists,  major.  See 
my  "Primer",  above  cited.  Note,  p.  53.  Translator. 

5 


66  ITALIAN  OPERA. 

regarded  as  a  consonance;  for  centuries  long  it  was  considered 
better  to  end  a  composition  in  minor  with  a  major  Triad,  even 
at  the  sacrifice  of  unity  of  mode,  than  to  introduce  the  minor 
Third  in  the  final  chord. 

To  return  to  the  subject  of  the  Opera,  it  is  to  be  especially 
noticed  that  a  particularly  favorable  soil  for  its  cultivation  had 
been  prepared  by  the  antecedent  labors  of  the  masters  above- 
mentioned.  Through  WILLAERT  and  his  school  the  Venetian 
church-music  had  acquired  that  dramatic  and  highly-colored  cha- 
racter that  later  also,  under  his  successors  ANDREA  GABRIELI  and 
his  nephew  GIOVANNI,  distinguished  it  from  the  other  Italian 
schools,  and  it  was  inevitable  that  the  new-born  music-drama  also 
should  be  materially  influenced  in  its  development  by  this  feature. 
Precisely  a  half-century  after  WILLAERT'S  death  we  again  find  in 
the  place  that  had  been  filled  by  him  a  musician  through  whom 
opera  received  an  impulse  hardly  dreamed  of  by  its  inaugurators : 
CLAUDIO  MONTEVERDE  (born  at  Cremona  in  1568,  and  from  1613 
till  his  death  in  1 643  music-director  of  the  church  of  San  Marco). 
Even  before  his  call  to  Venice,  as  music-director  at  Mantua  this 
artist  had  exerted  himself  to  augment  the  musical  means  of  de- 
scription and  of  representing  strongly  agitated  states  of  mind,  first, 
by  the  very  free  use  of  dissonances*  previously  prohibited,  then 
by  a  judicious  treatment  of  the  orchestra,  after  he  had  recognized 
the  individuality  of  the  several  instruments  and  their  adaptability 
for  characterising  the  dramatis  persona  and  the  various  situations. 
In  one  of  his  "Martial  Madrigals",  for  instance,  the  four  bowed- 
instruments  accompanying  the  recitative  take  a  lively  part  in  the 
effective  representation  of  the  contest;  here,  too,  appears  for  the 
first  time  the  violin-tremolo,  for  strengthening,  in  the  proper 
place,  the  impression  of  the  violent  and  passionate  —  a  style  of 


*  MONTEVERDE  did  not  hesitate  to  let  the  Dominant-seventh,  the  Ninth, 
even  the  major  Fourth  (Tritone)  enter  unprepared,  and  that  in  the  outer  voices; 
moreover  he  is  the  first  to  use  the  diminished  Septimachord,  —  daring  inno- 
vations, which  drew  upon  him  savage  attacks  from  the  theorists,  especially 
from  ARTUSI,  of  Bologna,  who  said  of  him,  among  other  things,  "that  he  lost 
sight  of  the  proper  aim  of  music,  viz  to  give  pleasure".  In  our  own  days  a 
school  of  estheticians  ahly  represented  by  the  late  eminent  critic  Dr.  EDUARD 
HANSLICK,  teach  substantially  the  same  doctrine,  as  opposed  to  modern  inno- 
vations. Thus  history  repeats  itself.  Translator. 


ITALIAN  OPERA.  67 

execution  that  was  received  at  first  with  censure  and  ridicule, 
but  soon  became  general  and  has  existed  to  this  day. 

Naturally,  opera  was  to  be  the  proper  field  for  MONTEVERDE'S 
activity;  he  did  not,  however,  turn  his  attention  to  it  before  the 
year  1607,  when  he  brought  out,  on  the  occasion  of  a  festival 
at  the  court  of  Duke  GONZAGA  of  Mantua,  his  dramatic  maiden- 
essay,  "Orfeo",  the  text  by  RiNUCCINi.  This  was  followed  the 
year  after  by  the  "Arianna",  and  the  dance-opera  "II  ballo  delle 
ingrate".  In  Venice  he  then  wrote  a  series  of  operas;  and  to  the 
period  of  his  activity  in  that  city  belongs  an  important  event  for 
the  progress  of  the  music-drama,  of  which  he  must  be  regarded 
as  the  immediate  instigator,  the  establishment  of  theirs*  opera- 
house,  in  consequence  of  which  the  opera  lost  its  character  as 
exclusively  court-festivity  and  became  accessible  to  the  general 
public.  It  was  in  Venice  that  in  the  year  1637  the  first  opera- 
house,  the  Teatro  Cassino,  was  opened,  the  opera  being  the  "An- 
dromeda", the  text  by  FERRARI,  the  music  by  MANELLI.  Some 
years  afterward  the  theatre  San  MoTse  was  opened  with  MONTE- 
VERDE'S newly  studied  "Arianna",  and  in  the  course  of  the  same 
century  opera  in  Venice  received  such  an  impulse  that  (as  Mar- 
purg  narrates)  up  to  1727  fifteen  operatic  enterprises  were  set 
on  foot  by  private  means,  and  up  to  1734  some  four  hundred 
operas  by  forty  different  composers  were  performed. 

Of  MONTEVERDE'S  successors  CAVALLI  (music-director  at  the 
San  Marco  church  from  1 668)  is  the  only  one  who  can  be  said  to 
have  farther  developed  the  dramatic  style;  the  celebrity  of  this 
composer,  moreover,  was  not  confined  to  his  native  country,  as 
is  proved  by  his  call  to  Paris  to  produce  his  opera  ''Xerxes"  on 
(the  occasion  of  the  wedding  of  Louis  XIV.  After  him  Italian 
opera  gradually  diverges  from  the  path  originally  taken,  and  sa- 
crifices the  antique  simplicity  aimed  at  by  its  founders  to  the 
ever  increasing  demand  for  sensuous  charm.  The  alliance  of 
poetry  and  music,  dissolved  in  the  Middle  Age  and  renewed  but 
a  few  decennaries  before,  is  again  broken  off,  and  the  equilibrium 
that  had  just  been  acquired  is  sacrificed  anew  to  the  claims  of 
music.  Nevertheless,  the  period  that  now  ensues  can  be  called 
the  palmy  days  of  Italian  opera:  the  musical  leadership  in  Italy, 
hitherto  taken  in  turn  by  Rome,  Florence  and  Venice,  is  now 
assumed  by  a  fourth  city,  NAPLES,  and  ALESSANDUO  SCARLATTI 

5* 


6S  ITALIAN   OPERA. 

(died  1 725 ,  as  music-director  at  that  court)  is  the  composer  that 
determines  for  opera  the  course  of  development  it  has  now  to 
pursue.  The  bright  sky  of  Naples  and  the  gay  disposition  of  its 
inhabitants  had,  it  is  true,  at  an  earlier  period  brought  to  ma- 
turity a  rich  musical  harvest  on  the  soil  of  the  ancient  Greek 
colony,  but  far  less  in  the  domain  of  serious  music  than  in  that 
of  the  secular  song,  the  madrigal,  which  —  not  to  mention  other 
names  —  the  highly  gifted  amateur  and  art-patron  CARLO  GESUALDO, 
prince  of  Venosa  (died  1614),  cultivated  to  a  high  degree  of  per- 
fection. But  with  SCARLATTI  the  musical  tendencies  of  the  Neapo- 
litans began  to  reveal  themselves  in  so  brilliant  and  extensive  a 
manner  as  to  allow  the  formation  here  of  a  distinct  musical  style 
adapted  to  the  local  surroundings,  called,  because  of  its  melodic 
charms,  me  beautiful  style,  in  distinction  to  the  Roman  style  of 
PALESTRINA  and  his  school,  called  the  sublime. 

ALESSANDRO  SCARLATTI  himself  sprang  from  the  Roman 
pchool  of  CARISSIMI,  celebrated  for  his  promotion  of  chamber- 
music  and  the  oratorio,  of  whose  agency  in  the  latter  domain  we 
shall  speak  later.  With  regard  to  the  chamber-music  style  devel- 
oped by  him,  which  exercised  a  considerable  influence  on  the  art- 
tendency  of  the  Neapolitan  school,  be  it  here  observed  that  it  is 
distinguished  from  the  church-style  by  its  very  nature  as  secular, 
but  from  the  dramatic  style,  which  conformably  to  its  character 
depicts  the  emotions  with  heavy  powerful  touches,  and  for  reaching 
its  larger  circle  of  hearers  aims  at  simplicity  and  intelligibility, 
by  a  far  more  detailed  artistic  exploitation  and  development  of 
the  musical  thought.  Careful  and  fine  work  of  this  kind  is  the 
more  necessary  in  the  chamber-music  style,  as  here  the  attention 
is  not  exacted  either  by  external  representation,  as  in  dramatic 
music,  nor  by  religious  ceremonies,  as  in  church-music,  hence 
concentrates  itself  entirely  upon  the  musical  work ;  because,  more- 
over, in  chamber-music  there  is  but  one  player  to  a  part,  and 
here  therefore  the  tone-masses,  dynamic  effects  and  color-shadings 
obtainable  in  orchestral  music  are  not  to  be  expected.  Besides 
CARISSIMI,  another  pupil  of  the  Roman  school,  AGOSTINO  STEFFANI 
(called  as  music-director  to  Hanover  in  1685)  notably  contributed 
to  the  development  of  the  chamber-music  style.  As  dramatic  com- 
poser of  comparatively  little  significance  he  indirectly  promoted 


ITALIAN  OPERA.  C9 

purity  of  style  in  dramatic  music  through  his  CJiamler-dvefg,  in 
which  species  he  has  produced  model  works. 

Trained  in  the  strict  school  of  chamber-music  to  be  a  com- 
poser, SCARLATTI  had  now  become  capable  of  laboring  success- 
fully in  every  special  department  of  his  art;  and  though  his  chief 
merit  lies  in  the  promotion  of  dramatic  music,  yet  so  noteworthy 
were  his  contributions  to  the  church  and  the  chamber  also,  that 
they  served  even  a  HANDEL  as  models,  and  were  no  less  eagerly 
studied  by  him  than  his  operas.  His  fertility  was  almost  incred- 
ible: in  the  year  1721  —  four  years  before  his  death  —  he  had 
already  finished  his  114th  opera,  and  his  200tb  mass,  while  the 
number  of  his  cantatas  —  little  musical  dramas,  as  Fetis  calls 
them  —  is  incalculable.  Dr.  BURNET  discovered  an  original  man- 
uscript of  his  containing  35  Cantatas  (composed  in  1701  at  Ti- 
voli,  where  SCARLATTI  was  visiting  a  colleague  of  the  papal  chapel), 
each  bearing  date  of  the  following  day.  In  his  operas  he  unites 
the  richness  of  melody  and  the  dramatic  forcefulness  of  the  southern 
Italians  with  the  gravity  and  the  purity  of  style  of  the  Roman 
art-song;  they  are  characterised  rather  by  pleasing  and  simple 
melodies  than  by  strong  passionate  expression,  yet  he  can  ex- 
cellently depict  situations,  especially  comic  ones.  His  forms  are 
still  extremely  narrow  in  comparison  to  those  of  the  later  Neapoli- 
tans and  of  HANDEL  and  BACH,  yet  they  served  for  a  long  time 
as  models,  especially  the  forms  of  the  Aria  and  the  Overture ;  the 
latter  is,  like  that  introduced  by  LULLI  in  France,  in  three  parts, 
and  differs  from  the  French  in  this  only,  that  its  opening  and 
closing  parts  are  in  quick,  the  middle  part  in  slow,  tempo,  where- 
as in  the  French  form  a  lively  middle  part  is  enclosed  between 
two  middle  parts.* 

Not  only  as  composer  did  ALESSANDRO  SCARLATTI  powerfully 
influence  the  taste  of  his  time  and  of  the  generation  following; 
he  was,  besides  —  as  were  usually  the  song-composers  of  the 


*  The  SCARLATTI  overture  may  be  regarded  as  the  prototype  of  the 
modern  orchestral  symphony.  As  instrumental  music  became  more  and  more 
independent,  the  opera-overture,  enlarged  in  form  and  enriched  in  subject- 
matter,  began  to  be  utilized  for  concert-purposes;  afterwards  its  three  parts 
were  separated  and  became  independent  movements,  to  which  in  the  18th  cen- 
tury a  fourth  one  was  added,  by  the  transfer  of  the  Minuet  from  the  ancient 
Suite. 


70  ITALIAN  OPERA. 

preceding  centuries  —  an  excellent  singer  and  singing-teacher, 
moreover  a  genial  conductor,  finally  an  accomplished  player  of 
the  clavicembalo  —  the  piano-forte  of  those  days  (although  ex- 
celled in  this  respect,  as  we  are  told,  by  his  son  DOMENICO,  whose 
significance  for  instrumental  music  will  be  discussed  elsewhere). 
Thus  SCARLATTI  could  fruitfully  labor  in  all  departments  of  his 
art,  especially  as  teacher  of  students  of  music  everywhere,  bitterly 
attacked  though  he  was  by  the  theorists  of  his  time  for  his  daring 
use  of  musical  resources.  And  as  in  every  age  we  see  the  artisti- 
cally productive  contemporaries  of  a  pioneer  genius  follow,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  the  path  he  has  taken,  so  too  SCARLATTI'S 
style  became,  even  during  his  life-time,  the  pattern  for  the 
creations  of  the  rising  generation,  and  afterwards,  completely 
developed  by  his  pupils  LEONARDO  LEO  and  FRANCESCO  DURANTE, 
attained  the  supremacy  over  all  musical  Europe.  Like  the  Nether- 
landers  in  the  1 5th  and  1 6th  centuries,  the  Neapolitans  now  exer- 
cised an  almost  unlimited  influence  upon  the  musical  affairs  of 
the  civilized  world.  Even  in  France,  where,  about  the  middle  of 
the  17th  century,  a  peculiar  kind  of  music-drama,  in  keeping  with 
the  national  art-ideas,  had  developed  itself,  there  was  an  oppo- 
sition party  that  received  with  open  arms  the  Neapolitan  opera 
appearing  about  the  middle  of  the  18th  century,  and  was  power- 
ful enough  to  combat  with  temporary  success,  under  the  direction 
of  the  Neapolitan  PICCINI,  the  French  opera  represented  by  GLUCK. 
In  England  Italian  opera  had  from  the  end  of  the  17th  century 
got  a  footing  and  overcome  the  rivalry  of  both  French  and  native 
composers;  but  during  the  palmy  days  of  the  Neapolitan  school 
it  was  strong  enough  to  drive  from  the  field  a  musician  of  HAN- 
DEL'S power  and  standing,  as  is  proved  by  the  success  of  the 
London  opera  at  the  Haymarket  theatre  under  the  direction  of 
PORPORA  and  HASSE,  at  the  expense  of  HANDEL'S  opera  in  Covent- 
garden  theatre. 

In  Germany,  Vienna,  Dresden  and  Berlin  strove  with  equal 
zeal  to  naturalize  Italian  opera  among  themselves.  The  most  pro- 
minent musicians  here  were,  it  is  true,  mostly  German  by  birth, 
but  in  their  musical  education  and  activity  thoroughly  italianized; 
for  instance,  JOHANN  JOSEPH  Fux,  who,  as  chief  music-director 
to  three  German  emperors,  with  the  aid  of  his  sub-directors  the 
Venetians  CONTI  and  CALDARA,  in  the  first  half  of  the  18th  cen- 


ITALIAN  OPERA.  71 

tury  brought  the  Vienna  opera  to  an  extraordinary  height  of  ex- 
cellence, and  at  the  same  time  proved,  by  his  famous  work  on 
counterpoint  —  "Gradus  ad  Parnassum"  —  published  in  1745, 
that  his  association  with  Italian  opera  had  not  cost  him  his  Ger- 
man thoroughness.  Of  equal  importance  for  Dresden  was  JOHAXN 
ADOLPH  HASSE,  born  in  1699  near  Hamburg,  from  1724  on  in 
Naples  as  pupil  of  SCARLATTI  and  PORPORA,  eventually,  after 
brilliant  successes  in  Italy,  appointed  music-director  at  the  court 
of  Saxony;  for  Berlin,  CARL  HEIKRICH  GRAUN,  born  1701,  till  his 
death  in  1759  sole  director  of  the  Italian  opera  established  by 
Frederick  the  Great  on  his  accession  to  the  throne. 

A  characteristic  feature  of  the  music  of  this  century  is  the 
perfecting  of  the  musical  means  of  expression,  especially  of  artistic 
singing.  As  the  father  of  the  Neapolitan  school,  ALESSANDRO 
SCARLATTI,  was  an  excellent  singer,  so  his  successors  also.  Artistic 
singing  was  the  school  through  which  every  composer  had  to  go 
before  he  might  hope  for  any  success  whatsoever  for  his  productions. 
HASSE  began  his  career  as  tenor  at  the  Hamburg  opera-house, 
GRAUN  also  belonged  to  the  representatives  of  the  art  of  finished 
singing,  and  was  enabled,  as  such,  to  win  during  his  residence  in 
Italy  the  applause  of  all  critics.  The  Italian  art  of  singing  reached 
its  climax  in  the  school  established  by  PiSTOCCra  at  Bologna 
about  1 700,  of  whose  successful  activity  the  singers  at  the  London 
opera  in  HANDEL'S  time  give  splendid  testimony,  notably  the  male 
soprano  SENESINO  and  the  female  singers  CUZZONI  and  FAUSTINA 
HASSE.  But  the  reverse  side  of  virtuosity,  pride  and  boundless 
vanity,  manifests  itself  in  these  singers  in  the  most  disagreeable 
manner.  CUZZONI  was,  we  are  told,  a  veritable  dragon  in  cha- 
racter, and  when  HANDEL,  to  manage  her  better,  had  called  to 
London  her  artistic  equal,  BASSE'S  wife,  the  quarrel  between  the 
two  artistes  soon  became  so  violent  that  on  one  occasion  they 
came  to  blows  on  the  open  stage. 

But  the  more  highly  the  performances  of  the  song-virtnosi 
were  esteemed  and  remunerated  by  the  public  —  as  early  as 
1647  the  Roman  musicographer  Doni  could  testify  that  "they  lived 
in  such  luxury  that  each  one  of  them  had  more  than  ten  cantors 
and  choir-masters  could  earn"  —  all  the  lower  was  the  estimation 
in  which  the  composer  was  held.  In  the  opera  of  the  18th  cen- 
tury the  music  was  judged  almost  exclusively  according  to  the 


72  ITALIAN   OPERA. 

opportunity  it  afforded  the  singer  to  display  his  or  her  virtuosity : 
"notably  the  aria  was  in  its  first  part  (repeated  at  the  close)  as 
it  were  merely  the  lattice-work  which  the  singer  decorated  with 
all  possible  arabesques  and  graces  into  a  little  triumphal  arch  for 
himself".*  If  dramatic  music  was  able  subsequently  to  come  out 
of  the  fight  against  virtuosity  triumphant  and  re-enforced,  for  an- 
other branch  of  musical  art  this  precarious  state  of  things  became 
utterly  fatal:  church-music  in  the  course  of  the  18th  century 
steadily  declined ;  the  grave  and  dignified  style  of  DURANTE,  found- 
er of  the  newer  Neapolitan  school  (died  in  1755,  as  music-director 
at  the  conservatory  of  San  Onofrio  at  Naples),  is  exchanged  by 
his  successors  for  the  showy  secular  style  or  a  romantic  unrest. 
This  is  seen,  e.  g.,  in  PERGOLESE'S  "Stabat  mater",  the  music  of 
which,  predominantly  sensuous  as  it  is  and  made  to  depend  for 
its  effect  chiefly  on  the  charm  of  the  voice,  only  partially  deserves 
the  praises  bestowed  upon  it  by  contemporaries.  JOMELLI  is  the 
only  one  among  the  later  Italians  in  whose  church-music  the 
gravity  and  thoroughness  of  the  Roman  school  are  still  effective, 
properties  that  are  predominant  in  his  later  works,  most  likely  in 
consequence  of  his  residence  in  Germany  (1754 — 176."))  as  music- 
director  at  Stuttgart,  at  the  court  of  Duke  Charles  of  Wurtemberg. 
Even  at  the  time  when  the  musical  genius  of  Germany  is 
awakened,  when  with  GLUCK  and  MOZART  dramatic  music  takes 
an  unexpectedly  lofty  flight,  even  then  Italian  opera  by  no  means 
owns  itself  defeated,  and  continues  to  achieve  brilliant  successes. 
In  Paris  PICCINI  manages  to  maintain  for  many  years  a  respect- 
able position  side  by  side  with  GLUCK;  in  Vienna  at  the  time 
of  MOZART'S  greatest  celebrity  the  Neapolitans  PAISIELLO  and 
SARTI  obtain  enthusiastic  applause,  the  former  by  his  opera  "Bar- 
biere  di  Seviglia",  the  latter  by  his  "Due  litiganti",  which  together 
with  VINCENZO  MARTIN'S  "Cosa  rara"  is  utilized  by  MOZART  in 
the  second  finale  of  his  "Don  Giovanni".  Even  the  appearance 
of  the  phenomenon  BEETHOVEN  could  not  prevent  Europe  from 
repeating  in  our  century  its  surrender  at  discretion  to  Italian 
opera.  ROSSINI  (born  1792,  at  Pesaro  in  the  states  of  the  church) 
was  the  magician  who  was  able,  by  means  of  the  sensuous  charm 
of  Italian  melody,  to  captivate  anew  the  musical  world  that  had 


*  See  VON  DOMMEK'S  Manual  of  Music-history. 


ITALIAN  OPERA.  73 

been  educated  to  a  higher  intelligence  by  the  Viennese  masters. 
From  1813,  when  his  "Tancred"  was  given  in  Venice  for  the  first 
time,  till  the  appearance  of  his  last  work,  "William  Tell",  in  1 829 
at  the  Grand  Opera  in  Paris,  ROSSINI'S  musical  career  was  signal- 
ized by  a  series  of  triumphs  such  as  no  Italian  opera -composer 
before  him  had  enjoyed.  This  was  owing,  in  the  first  place,  to 
his  creative  power,  which  manifests  itself  not  only  in  melodic 
invention  but  also  in  a  novel  -  -  for  his  time  -  -  treatment  of 
harmonies  and  of  the  orchestra,  farthermore  to  the  vocal  skill  at 
his  disposal,  and  this  especially  after  the  impresario  BARBAJA  had, 
in  1S15,  engaged  him  and  the  elite  of  Italy's  male  and  female 
singers  to  bring  out  his  works  in  Naples,  Milan  and  Vienna  alter- 
nately. Finally,  the  political  circumstances  also  must  be  taken 
into  consideration  to  account  for  the  enthusiasm  called  forth  by 
the  appearance  of  the  ROSSINI  opera:  the  mental  enervation  that 
had  settled  upon  Europe  after  the  disturbances  attendant  upon 
the  wars  of  Napoleon,  and  the  consequent  need  of  means  of 
diversion  and  stupefaction.  "From  the  days  of  the  Vienna  Con- 
gress", says  RIEHL  ("Musikalische  Charakterkopfe") ,  "from  the 
decennium,  sultry,  truce-bidding,  flood-gate-erecting,  that  followed 
the  war  of  deliverance,  dates  ROSSINI'S  world-wide  fame.  The 
weary  nations  required  lullabies  by  which  to  go  to  sleep  and 
dream,  and  the  Italian  offered  them  the  sweetest,  most  voluptuous 
slumber-song.  Every  one  was  tired  of  the  bombastic,  tragic  pathos 
of  the  Napoleonic  school,  on  the  stage  as  well  as  in  life;  it  was 
desired  to  drink  sweet  oblivion  at  the  spring  of  diverting  art, 
and  where  was  art  more  diverting  than  in  the  ROSSINI  opera?" 

The  exclusiveness  with  which  part  of  the  musical  world  gave 
itself  up  to  the  enjoyment  of  ROSSINI'S  operas,  and  indeed  even 
to  that  degree  that  the  greatest  German  masters,  BEETHOVEN 
and  WEBER,  were  placed,  at  the  very  posts  of  their  personal 
activity,  in  the  background  as  compared  with  the  "swan  of  Pe- 
saro"  -  -  this  exclusiveness  excited  in  the  circles  of  music-lovers 
with  higher  aims  an  aversion  to  Italian  opera-music  in  general, 
which  likewise  was  carried  to  excess  and  led  to  unjust  depre- 
ciation of  its  value.  Later  Italian  opera-composers,  as  BELLINI 
and  DONIZETTI,  were,  by  reason  of  the  cloying  sweetness  of  their 
melodies  and  the  meagreness  of  their  harmonies  and  rhythm, 


74  ITALIAN  OPERA. 

not  adapted  to  diminish  that  aversion.*  The  very  latest  phase  of 
Italian  opera-music,  as  represented  by  GIUSEPPE  VERDI  (born  1813, 
at  Busseto,  near  Parma)  in  his  "Ai'da",  seems  to  indicate  a  ten- 
dency to  break  with  the  traditional  style,  in  so  far  as  this  style 
is  characterized  chiefly  by  the  predominance  of  melodic  forms 
adapted  principally  to  the  display  of  solo  vocalism,  in  accordance 
with  the  genius  of  the  Italian  people,  and  by  general  harmonic 
and  rhythmic  poverty  and  lack  of  dramatic  truthfulness. 


*  What  follows  of  this  Section  is  substituted  for  considerably  more  mat- 
ter in  the  original,  which,  as  being  concerned  mostly  with  what  the  author 
considers  the  unjust  prejudices  of  his  countrymen  against  Verdi  and  Italian 
opera  generally,  I  judged  would  not  specially  interest  English-speaking  readers. 

Translator. 


vn. 

FRENCH  OPERA. 


In  no  nation  of  Europe  could  the  example  given  by  Italy  of 
the  renovation  of  the  musical  drama  of  the  ancients  more  power- 
fully excite  emulation  than  in  the  French,  whose  inclination  to 
music,  as  no  less  to  dramatic  representation,  had  already  in  the 
Middle  Age  been  variously  manifested,  and  through  the  artistic 
current  of  the  1 6th  century  had  received  fresh  nourishment.  Even 
during  the  political  and  religious  disturbances  of  this  period  the 
Renascence  was  able  here  to  exercise  its  wholesome  influence  upon 
the  art-situation.  But  after  the  religious  schisms  and  the  atten- 
dant civil  wars  had,  in  consequence  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  (1598), 
reached  their  termination,  and  after  RICHELIEU'S  iron  hand  had 
broken  the  resistance  of  the  nobility  and  restored  the  national 
unity,  the  artistic  impulses  of  the  French  people  could,  side  by 
side  with  material  prosperity,  so  freely  develop  themselves  that 
the  nation  soon  came  up  with  the  start  gained  by  the  Italians  in 
the  intellectual  domain. 

The  first  one  to  satisfy  the  demand  for  a  reform  of  the  French 
drama  in  the  modern  sense  was  a  Venetian  named  BAIF,  who  in 
1 570  solicited  from  CHARLES  IX.  a  privilege  for  the  erection  of 
an  academy  for  dramatic  poetry  and  music,  and  obtained  it,  but 
was  prevented  by  the  unfavorable  circumstances  of  the  times  from 
carrying  out  his  design.  Under  the  reign  of  the  pleasure-loving 
king  HENRY  IV.  these  musico-dramatic  plans  might  perhaps  have 
been  realized,  had  his  beneficial  activity  not  been  brought  by 
RAVAILLAC'S  dagger  (1610)  to  an  unexpectedly  sudden  close. 
HENRY'S  successor,  Louis  XIII,  was,  on  account  of  his  gloomy 
disposition,  not  inclined  to  offer  to  the  arts  an  asylum  at  his 


76  FRENCH  OPERA. 

court;  but  this  very  circumstance  was  to  be  the  occasion  of  the 
first  appearance  of  opera  in  France,  inasmuch  as  the  Cardinal 
MAZARIN,  in  order  to  enliven  Queen  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA,  sent  for  an 
Italian  opera-troupe  to  come  to  Paris,  which,  in  1645,  in  the 
Salon  du  Petit  Bourbon  opened  their  performances  with  the  opera 
"La  finta  pazza",  composed  by  STROZZI. 

The  applause  that  the  new  art-species  earned  at  the  hands 
of  the  French  public  could  be  only  a  partial  one,  as  opera  had 
at  this  time  considerably  receded  from  the  noble  simplicity  orig- 
inally aimed  at,  and  sought  for  effect  almost  exclusively  in  exter- 
nals, in  richness  of  decorations,  of  costumes  and  of  ballets,  in 
which  last  for  variety's  sake  all  imaginable  animal  forms  figured. 
But  this  could  not  satisfy  a  nation  whose  taste  for  dramatic  poetry 
had,  by  men  like  CORNEILLE,  whose  "Cid"  had  appeared  as  early 
as  1636,  and  MOLIERE,  who  had  begun  his  career  at  Paris  in 
1644,  been  in  a  remarkable  degree  purified  and  polished.  Accord- 
ingly, the  desire  was  openly  expressed  to  see  the  music-drama 
which  had  been  introduced  from  Italy  transformed  in  a  manner 
corresponding  to  the  national  art-ideas.  What  seemed  to  be  an 
insuperable  obstacle  to  the  fulfilment  of  this  desire  was  the 
established  opinion  in  the  literary  circles  of  France  that  the 
French  language  was  not  adapted  for  being  joined  with  music. 
In  fact,  it  had  since  the  reforms  of  the  writer  and  poet  MALHERBE 
(1555 — 1628)  been  limited  to  so  strict  forms,  in  poetry  the 
Alexandrine  verse  had  attained  so  absolute  a  supremacy,  that  to 
the  vocal  composer  the  free,  independent  movement  of  his  fantasy 
was  rendered  almost  impossible.  As,  at  the  time  of  the  Nether- 
landic  contrapuntists,  poetry  had  been  subordinate  to  music,  now 
in  France  the  situation  was  reversed.  A  freer  treatment  of  the 
language  seemed  to  be  the  indispensable  requirement  for  calling 
to  life  a  national  opera;  a  poet  must  be  found  courageous  enough 
to  disregard  the  existing  rules,  and  this  was  the  Abbe  PERRIN, 
who  accordingly  deserves  to  be  mentioned  in  the  first  rank  among 
the  founders  of  French  opera. 

Little  as  PERRIN  could  stand  comparison,  in  point  of  poetic 
talent,  with  the  poet-heroes  of  his  time,  yet  in  compensation  he 
possessed  in  a  high  degree  the  dramaiic  experience  necessary  for 
carrying  out  his  plan,  inasmuch  as  the  court  of  Gaston,  DUKE 
OF  ORLEANS,  brother  of  Louis  XIII ,  at  which  he  filled  the  office 


FREXCII  OPERA.  77 

of  master  of  ceremonies,  was,  in  perfect  contrast  with  the  court 
of  the  misanthropic  monarch,  the  theatre  of  every  kind  of  amuse- 
ment, histrionic  especially.  Here  the  Abbe"  conceived  the  idea 
of  a  style  of  poetry  which,  by  means  of  new  and  irregular  forms, 
ns  also  by  the  expression  of  manifold  emotions,  should  be  calcu- 
lated to  excite  the  fantasy  of  the  musician.  His  poems  written 
on  this  principle  and  after  the  pattern  of  the  so-called  "versi 
sciolti"  (blank  verse)  of  the  Italians,  which  he  published  in  1661 
as  verses  for  music,  naturally  excited  the  most  violent  opposition 
of  the  professional  poets,  at  the  head  of  whom  was  BOILEAD, 
afterwards  author  of  the  work  named  after  HORACE'S  "Ars  poetica", 
"L'art  poetique".  All  the  more  thankfully  were  they  received  by 
musicians,  and  the  most  noted  composer  of  the  France  of  that 
time,  ROBERT  CAMBERT,  organist  of  the  church  of  St.  Honore"  and 
musical  intendant  to  the  queen-mother,  indicated  his  readiness  to 
accept  PERRIN'S  innovations  in  the  preface  to  a  collection  of  his 
drinking-songs,  in  which  he  expresses  the  hope  "that  the  beauty 
of  the  words  may  atone  for  the  defects  of  the  music,  they  being 
written  mostly  by  Monsieur  PERRIN,  as  to  whose  incomparable 
talent  for  writing  musical  texts  there  is  no  dispute".  With  this 
composer  PERRIN  united  in  carrying  out  his  musico-dramatic  re- 
formatory plans,  and  the  first  fruit  of  their  joint  labor  was  a 
vaudeville  entitled  "Pastorale,  premiere  come"die  franchise  en  mu- 
sique",  first  performed  in  16")9  at  the  castle  of  the  farmer-general 
de  la  Haye,  at  Issy,  near  Paris. 

The  brilliant  success  of  this  undertaking  was  especially  cred- 
itable to  the  poet  and  the  composer  for  the  reason  that  both 
had  disdained  to  employ  on  this  occasion  the  customary  external 
means  of  producing  effect,  and  thus  the  applause  showered  on  the 
work  was  aimed  at  its  intrinsic  worth  exclusively.  Nevertheless, 
years  had  to  pass  before  French  opera  could  take  one  step  in 
advance  of  the  first  stage  of  infancy.  In  the  first  place,  PERRIN 
had  to  put  up  with  the  disappointment  of  seeing  an  Italian  opera 

—  CAVALLI'S   Xerxes**,    already   mentioned   —   chosen   for   the 
marriage-celebration  of  Louis  XIV.,  although  his  own  "Pastorale" 
had,  shortly  after  its  performance  at  Issy,  been  brought  out  before 
the   court  at  Vincennes  and  obtained  a  favorable  reception.    But 
this  disappointment  availed  as  little   as  the  death  of  his  patrons 

—  first,  of  the  DUKE  OF  ORLEANS,  then  of  Cardinal  MAZARIN  — 


78  FRENCH  OPERA. 

to  hinder  the  enterprising  poet  in  the  energetic  prosecution  of 
the  work  he  had  begun.  By  unremitting  exertions  and  petitions 
he  succeeded,  in  1699,  thus  fully  ten  years  after  the  first  represen- 
tation of  the  "Pastorale",  in  getting  a  royal  patent,  granting  to 
him  for  twelve  years  the  exclusive  right  to  establish  in  Paris  and 
all  other  cities  of  the  kingdom  "Opera-academies  after  the  manner 
of  the  Italian  ones."*  He  now  formed  an  association  with  CAM- 
BERT,  the  MARQUIS  OP  SURDEAC  and  a  certain  CHAMPERON,  on 
which  latter  the  supervision  of  the  decoration  and  the  financial 
management  devolved;  the  best  vocal  talent  of  the  kingdom  as 
also  the  royal  ballet-master,  BEAUCHAMP,  as  "chef  de  la  danse", 
were  secured  for  the  undertaking,  and  soon  a  suitable  place  was 
found  for  erecting  a  theatre.  At  the  end  of  five  months  the  new 
building  was  erected  on  the  site  of  the  "Jeu  de  paume  de  la 
bouteille"  (tennis-court)  in  the  Rue  Mazarin,  and  in  1671  was 
opened  with  the  opera  "Pomona",  a  work  which  in  regard  of 
both  the  music  and  the  poetry  was  far  inferior  to  the  maiden 
effort  of  PERRIN  and  CAMBERT,  yet  had  such  an  attraction  for  the 
public  that  it  had  a  run  of  fully  eight  months  and  brought  into 
the  poet  alone  the  sum  of  30.UOO  francs  ($  6.000). 

Meanwhile  a  dangerous  rival  to  the  youthful  enterprise  had 
grown  up  in  the  person  of  GIOVANNI  BATTISTA  LULLY**  or  LULU, 
who,  born  in  Florence  in  1633,  came  to  Paris  as  a  boy  and  gradu- 
ally worked  his  way  up  from  a  scullion  to  Mademoiselle  DE  MONT- 
PENSIER,  niece  of  the  king,  to  a  favorite  of  Louis  XIV.  Dismissed 
in  disgrace  by  his  mistress  in  consequence  of  a  satirical  poem 
upon  her,  he  first  obtained  through  his  talent  for  the  violin  em- 
ployment in  the  royal  orchestra,  the  "grande  bande"  of  twenty- 
four  "violons  du  roy";  after  he  had  there  attracted  the  kings 
attention,  a  special  orchestra  of  sixteen  musicians  was  formed  for 
him,  called  the  "petits  violons",  in  distinction  to  the  older  and 
more  numerous  orchestra.  Finally  he  managed  as  play-actor  also 
to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  king  and  to  render  his  favor  secure 


*  "Diverses  Academies,  dans  lesquelles  il  se  fait  des  representations  en 
mnsique,  qu'on  nomme  opera"  (sic).  The  designation  "Academic  royale  de  Mu- 
sique",  to  this  day  (with  occasional  change  of  the  word  "royale"  into  Mimpe- 
riale"  or  "nationale")  the  official  name  of  the  Paris  so-called  "Grand  Opera", 
appears  only  after  PERRIN'S  patent  had  passed  over  to  his  successors. 

**  Properly  written  "Lulli",  as  there  is  no  My"  in  the  Italian  alphabet 


FRENCH  OPERA.  79 

by  his  irresistible  drollery,  as  often  as  his  position  at  court  seemed 
to  be  imperilled.  Trusting  to  the  partiality  of  the  powerful 
sovereign  he  conducted  himself,  for  more  quickly  attaining  his 
ends,  towards  the  public  as  also  towards  his  colleagues  with  the 
utmost  want  of  consideration.  As  he  had  most  grievously  injured 
and  offended  the  most  eminent  men  of  his  time  —  BOILEAU,  LA- 
FONTAINE,  and  even  MOLIKKK,  to  whose  friendly  advances  he 
owed  his  first  successes,  --so  now,  made  jealous  by  the  success 
of  the  PERRIX-CAMBERT  undertaking,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  apply 
every  means  of  intrigue  in  order  to  rob  these  two  men  of  the 
fruits  of  their  labor.  And  in  this  he  succeeded  in  the  year  1672, 
when  he  availed  himself  of  a  quarrel  that  had  broken  out  between 
the  four  directors  of  the  enterprise,  to  transfer  to  himself  the 
patent  granted  to  PERRIN,  and  thus  became  the  master  of  the 
whole  domain  of  French  opera.  Vain  were  the  protestations  of 
the  victims  of  this  robbery:  PERRIN'S  complaints  were  unheeded, 
and  after  a  year's  time  his  name  was  no  longer  mentioned.  CAM- 
BERT  too  had  to  acknowledge  that  by  the  side  of  LULLI  there 
was  no  place  for  him;  he  removed  to  London,  but,  despite  his 
brilliant  successes  there  as  composer,  could  not  forget  the  mishap 
he  had  experienced  in  his  native  country,  and  died  a  few  years 
afterwards  (1677),  poisoned  by  LULLI,  as  the  enemies  of  the  latter 
maintained. 

With  LULLI  begins  the  true  golden  age  of  grand  opera  in 
France,  seeing  that  he  had  rightly  estimated  the  public  need  of 
a  music-drama  corresponding  to  the  national  sentiment,  and  was 
perfectly  able  to  satisfy  it.  PERRIN'S  attempt  to  shake  off  the 
constraint  of  the  poetic  forms  could,  in  view  of  the  belief  of  the 
French  in  the  immutability  of  certain  dogmas,  not  possibly  have 
a  thorough  success;  it  had  come  too  late  to  turn  back  the  pre- 
viously mentioned  development  of  the  language.  LULLI,  on  the 
contrary,  conformed  strictly  to  the  dominant  art-views,  and  the 
eminence  that  he  attained  among  the  French  people  as  opera- 
composer  is  due  not  so  much  to  his  musical  talent  as  to  his 
ability  to  enter  into  the  essential  nature  of  tragedy,  according  to 
the  representations  that  the  French  had  formed  to  themselves  of 
this  art-species.  "As  the  French  drama",  says  VON  DOMMKR 
(History  of  Music),  "sought  to  conform  itself  to  the  laws  of  the 
ancient  Greek  Drama,  so  LULLI,  too,  in  his  music  stood  far  nearer 


80  FRENCH  OPEEA. 

to  the  ideas  of  its  nature  in  the  antique  music-drama  than  did 
the  contemporaneous  Italians,  among  whom  music  had,  in  opera 
also,  emancipated  itself  from  Greekism  and  struck  out  a  path 
for  itself."  As  musical  art-works  LULLI'S  operas  are  inferior  to 
those  of  the  Italians  of  that  time.  With  him  the  centre  of  gravity 
lies  in  the  musical  rhetoric  and  declamation,  in  the  dramatic  ex- 
pression, which  he  aims  at  by  the  close  union  of  tone  with  speech ; 
and  accordingly,  his  musical  forms  are  simple,  not  to  say  meagre, 
as  compared  with  the  broadly  developed  tone-forms  of  the  con- 
temporaneous Italian  opera,  destructive  though  this  development 
must  be  admitted  to  be,  for  the  most  part,  of  dramatic  truthful- 
ness. This  weak  side  of  LULLI'S  operas  is,  however,  compensated 
by  his  exact  knowledge  of  the  stage,  as  also  by  his  ability  to 
make  a  skilful  use  of  all  external  theatrical  appliances.  To  this 
must  be  added  the  earnestness  with  which  he  set  about  to  accom- 
plish what  he  had  found  to  be  right  and  necessary.  Just  as  he 
tyrannized  outrageously  over  his  poet  Quinault,  and  struck  out 
from  and  added  to  his  works  till  they  perfectly  accorded  with  his 
intentions,  so  too,  when  his  operas  were  being  studied  he  kept 
the  singers,  the  chorus,  the  orchestra  and  the  dancers  to  their 
task  with  a  painful  exactness.  Especially  he  exerted  himself  to 
impart  to  his  actors  better  stage-manners,  a  higher  degree  of 
mimetic  skill,  and  a  more  distinct  enunciation  of  the  words  — 
the  latter  being  an  essential  condition  of  the  success  of  his  music, 
whose  declamatory  character  is  never  disavowed,  not  even  in  the 
choruses,  which  participate  far  more  extensively  in  the  dramatic 
action  than  the  Italian  opera-chorus,  and  thus  on  their  part  also 
demonstrate  the  affinity  of  the  French  opera  with  the  antique 
tragedy.  From  all  this  it  is  easily  understood  why  LULLI'S  works 
were  not  only  held  in  great  esteem  by  the  French  public  during 
his  life-time,  but  could  also  after  his  death  (1678)  hold  their 
ground  upon  the  stage  nearly  a  whole  century  long.  It  was  not 
till  the  year  1774  that  they  disappeared  from  the  operatic  repertory, 
simultaneously  with  the  appearance  of  GLUCK'S  "Iphigenia  in  Aulis", 
whose  reform  of  the  musical  drama,  moreover,  substantially  follows 
the  principles  of  LULLI,  just  as  the  latter  have  also  remained  up 
to  the  present  time  the  standard  for  the  French  grand  opera. 

There   was   but   one   composer  who    could   during   this  long 
period  put  himself  abreast  of  Lulli :  JEAN  PHILIPPE  RAMEAU  (bora 


KRKNU1    Ul'ERA.  g| 

16C3,  at  Dijon).  The  superior  of  his  predecessor  as  musician,  he 
notably  enriched  French  opera-music  from  the  melodic  and  the 
harmonic  side,  yet  without  sacrificing  the  dramatic  to  the  musical 
element  and  thus  becoming  disloyal  to  the  principles  followed  by 
LULLI.  It  was  not  till  comparatively  late,  in  his  fiftieth  year,  that 
HAMEAU  began  his  career  as  opera-composer;  but  as  he  had  dur- 
ing the  first  and  greater  half  of  his  artist-life  been  uninterrupt- 
edly employed  with  music  —  with  what  success  is  proved  by 
what  he  accomplished  as  theoretician  and  as  piano-virtuoso  and 
composer  for  this  instrument  — ,  he  could  already  at  the  appear- 
ance of  his  first  opera  "Hippolyte  et  Aricie"  (October  1st,  1732) 
develop  an  epoch-marking  activity  in  the  dramatic  domain  also. 
Even  here  is  seen  the  difference  between  his  talent  and  that  of 
LULLI;  the  latter  retains  from  the  first  to  the  last  of  his  operas 
the  same  musical  method,  whereas  in  RAMEAU'S  works  the  richest 
variety  reigns,  with  an  endeavor  to  employ  constantly  new  means 
of  expression  and  to  render  the  style  diversified.  The  exuberance 
of  musical  thoughts  by  which  in  the  above-mentioned  opera  he 
surprised  his  contemporaries  and  at  first  (as  may  be  imagined) 
puzzled  them,  justifies  the  opinion  expressed  by  the  esteemed 
composer  CAMPRA  (from  1722  till  his  death  in  1744  music-director 
to  Louis  XV.),  "that'Hippolyte  et  Aricie'  contained  matter  enough 
for  ten  ordinary  operas,  and  that  RAMEAU  would  eclipse  all  the 
masters  of  his  time".  At  first  the  artist  had  of  course  to  suffer  the 
most  violent  attacks  from  the  public ;  the  blind  adherents  of  LULLI 
especially  could  not  forgive  him  his  innovations  and  revenged  them- 
selves on  him  by  the  following  epigram,  among  other  things: 

Si  le  difficile  est  le  beau, 
C*est  un  grand  homme  que  Rameau, 
Mais  si  le  beau,  par  avcnture 
N*£tait  que  la  simple  nature, 
Qucl  petit  homme  que  Rameau! 

Of  the  above  criticism  we  would  observe  that  it  is  one  that  reg- 
ularly makes  its  appearance  at  the  springing  up  of  every  new 
art-tendency,  but  is  none  the  less  senseless  on  that  account.  For, 
what  is  called  "naturalness"  in  music  is  simply  the  result  of  the 
habituation  of  the  ear,  and  the  reproach  constantly  made  to  the 
pioneer  composer  —  that  he  purposely  heaps  up  difficulties  — 
merely  betrays  the  laziness  of  the  objectors,  who  are  unwilling 

6 


82  FRENCH  OPERA. 

to  take  any  pains  to  explore  the  new  art-domain  opened  to  them 
by  the  genius  of  the  artist.  Subsequently  also,  on  the  appearance 
of  every  new  opera,  RAMEAU  was  subjected  to  the  same  attacks, 
although  after  the  production  of  his  opera  "Castor  and  Pollux" 
(1737)  he  was  acknowledged,  even  by  his  opponents,  to  be  the 
first  dramatic  composer  of  France.  The  prominent  position  he  had 
acquired  at  the  Grand  Opera,  for  which  he  produced  in  the  follow- 
ing years  twenty-two  additional  larger  works,  he  retained  up  to 
his  death  (1 764) ,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  French  nation 
honored  the  memory  of  the  master,  both  by  a  magnificent  funeral 
and  by  the  memorial  ceremonies  on  the  anniversary  of  his  death, 
repeated  year  by  year,  testifies  that  she  numbered  him,  even  in 
his  life-time,  among  the  best  of  her  children. 

Not  less  considerable  are  the  merits  that  RAMEAU  acquired 
through  his  epoch-marking  labors  in  the  field  of  musical  theory. 
Whilst  his  predecessors  had  contented  themselves  with  laying 
down  rules  for  the  connection  of  chords,  without  exploring  their 
origin,  in  his  "Traite  d'harmonie",  published  in  1722,  he  succeeds 
in  establishing  this  origin.  His  system  is  based  on  the  over-tones 
or  harmonics  of  a  fundamental  tone,  viz-  the  Octave,  the  Fifth 
in  the  second  Octave  (or  Twelfth),  and  the  Third  in  the  third 
Octave  (Seventeenth).  By  transposing  the  Fifth  and  the  Third  — 
the  former  an  Octave,  the  latter  two  Octaves  lower  —  he  obtains 
the  major  Triad,  called  by  him  "accord  parfait";  the  minor  Triad 
("accord  parfait  mineur"),  on  the  other  hand,  is  composed  of  three 
tones  having  a  common  over-tone,  as,  A,  c,  e,  to  which  e  is  re- 
spectively Twelfth,  Seventeenth  and  Octave.  By  adding  Thirds  to 
the  Triad  RAMEAU  obtains  the  Septimachord  and  the  Nonachord;* 
but  those  chords  in  which  the  Fourth  and  the  Sixth  are  charac- 
teristic tones  he  obtains  by  the  so-called  "inversion"  of  the  Triad 
or  the  Septimachord.  Besides  this  system,  which  forms  the  basis 
of  harmonic  theory  up  to  the  present  time,  the  musical  world 
owes  to  RAMEAU  also  the  introduction  of  the  equal  temperament, 
i.  e.,  the  division  of  the  Octave  into  twelve  half-steps  of  equal 
dimensions,  and  with  it  the  removal  of  the  impediments  that  in- 
strumental music,  as  far  as  instruments  with  fixed  tuning  are 

*  I  venture  to  suggest  the  substitution  of  these  two  terms,  legitimately 
derived  from  the  Latin,  for  the  cumbrous  corresponding  ones,  "Chord  of  the 
Seventh",  "Chord  of  the  Ninth".  Translator. 


FRENCH   OPERA.  g3 

concerned,  had  till  then  had  to  encounter  in  its  free  development, 
SEBASTIAN  BACH  had  already  in  1722  brought  the  equal  tempera- 
ment into  use  by  means  of  his  "Wohltemperirtes  Clavier";  but 
after  the  appearance  of  RAMEAU'S  "Generation  hannonique"  (1737) 
that  system  of  tuning  was  universally  accepted  by  theoreticians 
also  as  fundamental  postulate  of  modern  music,  and  with  it  the 
reduction  of  the  ancient  modes  to  the  Ionian  and  ^Eolian  (our 
major  and  minor*).  These  latter  had,  centuries  before,  obtained 
in  the  folk-song  almost  exclusive  application;  they  could  not  but 
attain  to  universal  sway  after  the  introduction  of  the  equal  tem- 
perament, implying  the  use  of  all  the  twelve  tones  of  the  Octave 
as  tonics  of  as  many  transpositions  of  the  major  and  the  minor 
scale,  and  with  it  the  breaking  down  of  the  obstacles  put  in  the 
way  of  modern  composition  by  the  ancient  modes. 

Owing  to  the  eagerness  with  which  RAMEAU  had  for  many 
years  long  devoted  himself  almost  exclusively  to  theoretical  spec- 
ulation, and  afterwards  also,  over  and  above  his  labors  for  opera, 
was  incessantly  occupied  in  defending  his  achievements  in  the 
theoretical  domain  against  attacks  at  home  and  abroad,  his  char- 
acter could  not  well  have  been  free  from  one-sidedness.  If  he 
cannot  be  charged  also,  as  was  his  predecessor  LULLI,  with 
heartlessness ,  yet  he  cared,  especially  when  engaged  with  theo- 
retical problems,  but  little  or  nothing  for  the  outside  world.  In 
consequence  he  did  not  lack  personal  enemies,  one  of  whom,  the 
philosopher  DIDEROT,  whom  he  had  angered  by  his  opposition  to 
his  Encyclopaedia,  could  say  of  him  in  his  book  "Le  neveu  de 
RAMEAU ":  "He  is  a  philosopher  in  his  way,  he  thinks  only  of  him- 
self, and  the  rest  of  the  world  is  to  him  not  worth  a  pin's  head. 
His  wife  and  daughter  may  die  when  they  like ;  if  only  the  church- 
bells  of  the  diocese  that  toll  at  their  funeral  sweetly  re-echo  the 
twelfth  and  seventeenth,  he  is  perfectly  satisfied." 

A  dangerous  rivalry  with  the  Paris  Grand  Opera  was  creat- 
ed in  the  year  1752  by  the  arrival  of  an  Italian  opera-troupe, 
which  obtained  permission  to  produce  comic  operas  and  had, 
especially  with  PERGOLESE'S  intermezzo  "La  serva  padrona",  un- 
common success.  Immediately  after  the  arrival  of  the  Italians 
musical  Paris  had  split  into  two  parties,  which,  under  the  name 
of  Bouffonites  and  Anti-Bouffoniles  took  sides  with  either  the 

•  Bee  Note,  p.  19. 


g4  FRENCH  OPERA. 

Italians  or  the  national  opera.  Both  factions  defended  with  equal 
obstinacy  the  chosen  stand-point,  and  as  the  battle  grew  hotter 
and  hotter  the  Italian  singers  at  the  end  of  two  years  thought 
best  to  abandon  the  field.  The  stir  they  had  raised  was,  however, 
not  to  be  lost  on  dramatic  music  in  France.  "As  in  every  domain 
of  intellectual  life",  says  GOETHE,  in  his  translation  of  DIDEROT'S 
wLe  neveu  de  Rameau",  "so  too  in  that  of  grand  opera  people  had 
begun  to  be  impatient  of  the  rigid  shackles  of  tradition,  and  the 
Italian  Bouffonites  had  shown  the  possibility  of  demolishing  the  old, 
hated  frame-work  and  acquiring  a  fresh  plane  for  new  efforts .... 
All  the  arts  were  in  the  middle  of  the  preceding  century  char- 
acterised by  an  extraordinary,  almost  incredible  affectation,  and 
divorced  from  all  art-truthfulness  and  simplicity.  Not  only  had 
the  romantic  fabric  of  the  opera  become  more  rigid  and  unyield- 
ing through  tradition,  .tragedy  also  was  played  in  farthingales, 
and  a  hollow,  affected  declamation  recited  her  master-works.  This 
went  so  far  that  the  wonderful  VOLTAIRE,  in  delivering  his  own 
pieces,  fell  into  an  expressionless,  monotonous,  psalm-singing 
bombast,  and  was  persuaded  that  in  this  way  the  dignity  of  his 
pieces,  which  deserved  a  far  better  treatment,  obtained  just  ex- 
pression. " 

No  wonder  that  at  such  a  time  the  sagacious  heads  among  the 
French  in  all  spheres  of  intellectual  life  united  in  the  endeavor 
to  oppose  to  culture  and  art  what  they  called  nature.  In  painting, 
LEBRUN'S  pompous  and  ambiguous  representations  were  supplanted 
by  the  pictures  of  rural  and  family  life,  the  genre-scenes  of  a 
WATTEAU  and  a  LIOTARD;  the  mathematically  planned  gardens 
and  clipped  trees  of  Louis  the  fourteenth's  court-gardener,  Le 
N6tre,  had  to  give  way  to  parks  in  the  English  style;  but  dra- 
matic music  shows  a  predilection  for  the  operetta,  and  develops 
it  after  the  model  of  the  Italian  opera  bvffa  into  the  Opera-Comique. 
True,  there  had  been  something  of  this  sort  before  the  arrival 
of  the  Italians  in  France,  but  as  it  was  exclusively  devoted  to 
the  amusement  of  the  masses,  it  could  in  no  way -fulfil  higher 
artistic  requirements.  The  first  step  towards  the  artistic  elevation 
of  this  opera  of  the  masses  was  the  performance  of  the  works 
left  behind  them  by  the  Italians,  first  of  all,  of  the  "Serva  pa- 
drona"  in  a  French  version ;  then  appeared  the  poet  VADE  and  the 
composer  DAUVERGNE  with  an  original  work,  the  comic  opera 


FRENCH  OPERA.  &5 

"Les  troqueurs".  After  the  complete  success  of  this  attempt  the 
most  noted  poets  of  France,  foremost  FAVART  and  MARMONTEL, 
joined  the  new  movement,  substituting  for  the  antique  materials 
exclusively  made  use  of  for  grand  opera,  events  of  daily  —  espe- 
cially of  civil  —  life,  as  subject-matter  of  their  dramatic  poems. 
The  most  prominent  of  their  musical  collaborators  were:  the 
Neapolitan  DUNI,  whose  "La  laitiere"  made  its  way  to  Germany 
and  helped  to  naturalize  comic  opera  in  that  country  also:  then 
the  Frenchmen  PHILIDOR  (celebrated,  over  and  above,  as  chess- 
player), MONSIGNY,  whose  "Le  deserteur"  (1769)  is  to  this  day 
favorably  received  in  France;  finally  GRETRY,  who,  though  half 
foreigner  (born  at  Liege  in  1741),  gave  comic  opera  that  perfec- 
tion through  which  it  is  down  to  the  present  time  the  genuine 
representative  of  the  national  character  of  the  French  in  the 
domain  of  dramatic  music. 

In  close  alliance  with  this  transformation  of  art-taste  in  France 
is  the  tendency  exhibited  at  the  same  time  by  the  French  philo- 
sophy. The  so-called  philosophy  of  enlightenment  is  essentially 
opposition  to  the  current  dogmas  and  existing  state  of  things  in 
church  and  state,  and  the  establishment  of  a  new  theoretical  and 
practical  view  of  life  on  naturalistic  principles.  Of  the  represen- 
tatives of  this  tendency  we  will  here  name  only  JEAN  JACQUES 
ROUSSEAU,  as  having  acquired  great  renown  not  only  as  philos- 
opher but  also  as  musician,  in  the  domain  of  theory  by  his 
"Dictionnaire  de  la  Musique",  published  in  1767,  popularized  in 
countless  later  editions  and  translations  into  foreign  languages; 
in  that  of  practice  by  the  opera  written  and  composed  by  him, 
first  performed  in  1752,  "Le  devin  du  village".  Just  as  in  ROUS- 
SEAU'S religious,  political  and  pedagogic  principles  the  yearning 
to  escape  the  ills  of  a  degenerate  society  by  returning  to  an 
imaginary  state  of  nature  finds  extravagant  utterance,  so  he 
wages  war  with  like  bitterness  against  the  then  ruling  standards 
of  musical  taste,  and  is  of  course  seen,  in  the  quarrel  between 
the  Bouffonites  and  Anti-Bouffonites,  on  the  side  of  the  former. 

In  his  "Letter  on  French  music"  he  unmercifully  lashes  the 
stiff  formality  of  grand  opera;  and  though  in  some  points  he  goes 
too  far,  as,  for  instance,  in  his  aversion  to  polyphonic  music, 
which,  following  the  lead  of  Caccini  (see  p.  61),  he  declares  an 
offence  against  good  taste,  yet  most  of  the  views  therein  expressed 


86  FRENCH  OPERA. 

merit  unqualified  approbation.  Especially  will  his  demands  that 
the  orchestra  should  never  come  to  a  stop  in  the  opera,  but, 
even  when  the  singing  ceases,  should  follow  up  the  train  of 
thought  of  the  actor;  moreover,  that  in  passionate  scenes  the 
perfect  cadence  should  absolutely  be  avoided;*  finally,  that  the 
librettist,  instead  of  aiming  at  the  greatest  possible  clearness, 
should  rather  let  the  auditor  occasionally  have  the  satisfaction  of 
partly  reading  the  meaning  of  the  words  in  the  soul  of  the  singer 
—  these  demands  will  strike  the  champions  of  the  modern  ten- 
dency of  the  musical  drama  as  perfectly  legitimate.  In  connection 
with  the  last-mentioned  observation  we  hear  him  repeat  the  ob- 
jection made  to  the  French  language  a  century  before,  that  it  is 
ill  adapted  to  be  used  with  music,  not  precisely  because  of  the 
difficulty  of  pronunciation,  or  of  the  nasal  sounds  and  mute  syl- 
lables, etc.,  but  on  account  of  its  strictly  logical  construction  as 
opposed  to  freedom  of  transposing  members  of  a  sentence,  of  in- 
versions, which  in  the  Italian  language  sustain  the  attention  up 
to  the  end  of  the  sentence  and  at  the  same  time  the  interest  for 
the  accompanying  music.** 

From  this  prejudice  ROUSSEAU  was  freed  only  through  that 
musician  who  brought  the  LULLI  opera  to  the  highest  degree  of 
perfection,  again  (strange  to  say)  a  foreigner,  Chevalier  CHRISTO- 
PHER VON  GLUCK  (born  in  1714  at  Weidenwang,  Bavaria,  died  at 
Vienna,  in  1 787).***  Through  his  powerful  artist-personality  GLUCK 
succeeded,  after  a  comparatively  unsuccessful  career  as  opera-com- 
poser in  Italy  and  Germany,  in  finding  in  Paris  the  suitable  soil 
for  his  musico-dramatic  reformatory  efforts.  Again,  at  his  appear- 


*  KCes  cadences  parfaites  sont  toujours  la  mort  de  I'expression",   so  we 
read  in  the  work  here  referred  to. 

**  wSi  je  voulois  m'6tendre  sur  cet  article,  je  pourrois  pent-fore  vous  faire 
voir  encore  que  les  inversions  de  la  langue  italienne  sont  beaucoup  plus  favo- 
rables  a  la  bonne  melodie  que  1'ordre  didactique  de  la  ndtre,  et  q'une  phrase 
musicale  se  deVeloppe  d'une  maniere  plus  agreable  et  plus  intSressante,  quand 
le  sens  du  discours,  longtemps  suspendu  se  resout  sur  le  verbe  avec  la  cadence, 
que  quand  il  se  deVeloppe  a  mesure,  et  laisse  affoiblir  ou  satisfaire  ainsi  par 
degres  le  d6sir  de  1'esprit,  tandis  que  celui  de  1'oreille  augmente  en  raison 
contraire  jusqu'  a  la  fin  de  la  phrase",  etc. 

***  GLUCK  owed  his  title  of  "Chevalier"  to  the  decoration,  received  from 
the  Pope,  of  the  Cross  of  the  Golden  Spur,  a  distinction  afterwards  conferred 
on  MOZART  also. 


FRENCH  OPERA.  87 

ance,  the  Parisian  public  were  divided  into  two  parties ;  this  time, 
however,  the  friends  of  progress,  among  them  KOUSSEAU,  stood 
on  the  side  of  the  French  grand  opera,  while  the  adherents  of 
the  existing  state  of  things  placed  their  hope  in  Italian  music. 
Still  more  fiercely  than  at  the  time  of  the  Bouffonites  and  the 
Anti-bouffonites  raged  the  battle  between  the  Gluckites  and  their 
adversaries,  who,  after  the  Neapolitan  composer  PICCINI  had  been 
set  up*  as  rival  of  the  German  master,  called  themselves  "Picci- 
nites**;  nor  was  it  till  after  many  years  that  the  contest  was 
decided,  in  consequence  of  the  victory  achieved  by  GLUCK'S 
"Iphigenia  in  Tauris",  in  1781,  over  the  opera  of  the  same  name 
by  PICCINI,  on  which  occasion  German  music  celebrated  in  the 
domain  of  opera  its  first  triumph  over  Italian  and  French  music. 
From  all  that  has  been  said  of  the  character  of  the  French 
grand  opera  it  follows  that  it  was  by  no  means  accidentally  that 
France  became  the  theatre  of  GLUCK'S  reformatory  activity.  For, 
just  as  little  as  it  was  his  intention  to  follow,  as  musician,  the 
taste  of  any  nation  whatever,  so  too  he  could  not  doubt  that  the 
tendency  given  to  dramatic  music  by  LULLI  and  RAMEAU,  and  only 
this  tendency,  could  guarantee  the  realization  of  his  own  prin- 
ciples; that  moreover,  the  characteristic  inclination  of  the  French 
opera  public  of  that  day  (as  also  of  the  present  time)  to  enjoy 
music  reflectively  rather  than  directly,  would  afford  him  the 
greatest  possible  freedom  in  practically  carrying  out  his  system. 
How  conscious  he  was  of  his  special  mission  as  dramatic  com- 
poser, and  what  fixed  principles  he  followed  in  his  work,  he  shows 
us  in  the  preface  to  his  opera  "Alceste",  a  kind  of  artistic  creed, 
which  at  the  same  time  expresses  the  opinion  of  the  many,  who 
before  and  after  GLUCK  have  combated  and  will  yet  combat  the 
excessive  prominence  of  the  music  in  the  opera.  The  most  im- 
portant sentences  of  this  significant  preface  are  the  following* 
"When  I  undertook  to  set  the  opera  "Alceste"  to  music,  I  resolved 
to  avoid  all  those  abuses  which  had  crept  into  Italian  opera 
through  the  mistaken  vanity  of  singers  and  the  unwise  compliance 
of  composers,  and  which  had  rendered  it  wearisome  and  ridiculous, 
instead  of  being,  as  it  once  was,  the  grandest  and  most  imposing 


*  I  have  tramcrfbed  these  extracts  as  they  are  given  in  GROVE'S  Dictio- 
nary of  Music  and  Musicians,  Vol.  I.  Part  V.  Tramlator. 


88  FRENCH  OPERA. 

stage  of  modern  times.  I  endeavored  to  reduce  music  to  its  proper 
function,  that  of  seconding  poetry  by  enforcing  the  expression 
of  the  sentiment,  and  the  interest  of  the  situations,  without  inter- 
rupting the  action,  or  weakening  it  by  superfluous  ornament.  My 
idea  was  that  the  relation  of  music  to  poetry  was  much  the  same 
as  that  of  harmonious  coloring  and  well-disposed  light  and  shade 
to  an  accurate  drawing,  which  animates  the  figures  without  alter- 
ing their  outlines.  I  have  therefore  been  very  careful  never  to 
interrupt  a  singer  in  the  heat  of  a  dialogue  in  order  to  introduce 
a  tedious  ritornelle,  nor  to  stop  him  in  the  middle  of  a  piece 
either  for  the  purpose  of  displaying  the  flexibility  of  his  voice 
on  some  favorable  vowel,  or  that  the  orchestra  might  give  him 
time  to  take  breath  before  a  long-sustained  note." 

"Furthermore  I  have  not  thought  it  right  to  hurry  through 
the  second  part  of  a  song  if  the  words  happened  to  be  the  most 
important  of  the  whole,  in  order  to  repeat  the  first  part  regularly 
four  times  over;  or  to  finish  the  air  where  the  sense  does  not 
end,  in  order  to  allow  the  singer  to  exhibit  his  power  of  varying 
the  passage  at  pleasure.  In  fact,  my  object  was  to  put  an  end 
to  abuses  against  which  good  taste  and  good  sense  have  long 
protested  in  vain." 

"My  idea  was  that  the  Overture  ought  to  indicate  the  subject 
and  prepare  the  spectators  for  the  character  of  the  piece  they 
are  about  to  see;  that  the  instruments  ought  to  be  introduced  in 
proportion  to  the  degree  of  interest  and  passion  in  the  words; 
and  that  it  was  necessary  above  all  to  avoid  making  too  great  a 
disparity  between  the  Recitative  and  the  Air  of  a  dialogue,  so 
as  not  to  break  the  sense  of  a  period  or  awkwardly  interrupt  the 
movement  and  animation  of  a  scene.  I  also  thought  that  my 
chief  endeavor  should  be  to  attain  a  grand  simplicity :  and  conse- 
quently I  have  avoided  making  a  parade  of  difficulties  at  the  cost 
of  clearness;  I  have  set  no  value  on  novelty,  as  such,  unless  it 
was  naturally  suggested  by  the  situation  and  suited  to  the  ex- 
pression; in  short,  there  was  no  rule  which  I  did  not  consider 
myself  bound  to  sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  effect". 

The  practical  carrying  out  of  these  maxims  could  of  course 
find  no  applause  either  in  Italy  nor  in  the  artist's  native  land, 
utterly  dominated  as  it  was  by  Italian  opera.  In  Germany  he  had 
for  opponents  not  only  the  whole  body  of  musicians  but  also  the 


FRENCH   Ol'ERA. 


SO 


most  eminent  critics,  among  them  Professor  FORKEL,  of  GSttingen, 
who  employed  all  his  esthetic  sagacity  in  depreciating  GLUCK'S 
music,  and  was  especially  severe  upon  the  composer's  claiming  for 
it  the  property  of  "noble  simplicity".  "What  the  Chevalier  pleases 
to  call  'noble  simplicity*  is  in  our  opinion  nothing  but  a  miserable, 
empty  and  naked,  or,  to  speak  more  properly,  an  ignoble  simpli- 
city, arising  from  lack  of  art  and  knowledge.  It  is  like  the  stupid 
simplicity  of  the  common  people  as  against  the  noble  simplicity 
shown  in  the  manners  and  conversation  of  polished  and  meri- 
torious persons;  in  the  former  case  everything  is  coarse,  deficient 
and  faulty,  but  in  the  latter,  perfectly  correct,  plain  and  elegant. 
In  a  word,  the  GLUCK  species  of  noble  simplicity  resembles  the 
style  of  our  alehouse-virtuosi,  which  has  in  it  simplicity  enough, 
to  be  sure,  but  at  the  same  time  much  that  is  disgusting." 

For  criticisms  of  this  kind  GLUCK  was,  indeed,  up  to  a  cer- 
tain degree  indemnified  by  the  enthusiastic  approbation  bestowed 
upon  him  in  literary  circles:  his  very  remark  to  the  librettist  of 
his  Iphigenia  in  Aulis",  DU  ROLLET:  "Before  I  set  to  work  I  first 
of  all  try  to  forget  that  I  am  musician",  should  have  sufficed  to 
secure  for  him  the  sympathy  of  cultivated  non-musicians.  Never- 
theless, the  influence  of  these  circles  upon  public  opinion  was, 
under  the  social  and  political  circumstances  of  Germany  at  that 
time,  too  insignificant  for  GLUCK  to  expect  from  them  an  effec- 
tive support  of  his  efforts.  It  was  otherwise  in  France,  where 
just  then  in  all  departments  of  intellectual  life  the  fashion  was 
set  by  the  representatives  of  literature,  and  where  in  this  case 
the  most  eminent  philosophers  and  poets  had  worked  together  to 
gain  the  victory  for  GLUCK'S  opera.  Especially  must  the  voice  of 
a  man  of  ROUSSEAU'S  authority  have  weighed  much  in  GLUCK'S 
favor,  after  the  former  had  openly  acknowledged  that  GLUCK'S 
opera  had  entirely  cured  him  of  his  former  unbelief  in  the  possi- 
bility of  a  French  music-drama.  And  that  this  acknowledgement 
by  no  means  concerned  theoretical  principles  merely,  that  GLUCK'S 
music  fully  satisfied  the  philosopher's  intellect  not  only  but  also 
the  craving  of  his  heart  and  soul,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
ROUSSEAU,  after  having  refrained  for  years  from  visiting  the  opera, 
from  the  time  of  the  appearance  of  the  "Orpheus"  missed  no  re- 
presentation of  the  work,  as  also  by  his  answer  to  the  reproach 
of  want  of  melody  made  against  GLUCK'S  music:  1  find  that  me- 
lody streams  out  from  all  his  pores" 


90  FRENCH  OPERA. 

The  political  disturbances  that  a  few  years  after  this  second 
musical  contest  convulsed  the  French  capital,  were  anything  but 
favorable  to  the  farther  development  of  dramatic  music  in  France. 
True,  the  theatres  were,  as  a  contemporary  (CHERUBINI'S  wife) 
relates,  crowded  at  night,  after  multitudinous  guillotinings  by 
daylight;  moreover,  the  principal  composers  were  constantly  em- 
ployed in  glorifying  the  revolutionary  proceedings  by  national 
hymns  and  other  occasional  works,  yet  the  musical  productions 
of  that  period  have  had  no  influence  beyond  the  time  of  their 
origin,  with  one  exception  —  the  "Marseillaise",  written  and  com- 
posed by  ROUGET  DE  LISLE  (produced  for  the  first  time  under  its 
original  title :  "Chant  de  guerre  pour  1'armee  du  Rhin",  and  scored 
by  GOSSEC,  on  the  30th  of  September,  1792,  at  the  Paris  Grand 
Opera),  which,  as  is  well  known,  has  retained  its  stimulating 
power  from  that  day  to  this.  Strange  to  say,  however,  to  this 
period  of  wildest  excitement  belongs  a  musical  event  of  thoroughly 
peaceful  character  and  of  the  highest  interest  for  music  in  general 
as  for  French  opera  in  particular  —  the  establishment  of  the  Paris 
Conservatory.  This  institution,  whose  official  name  "Conservatoire 
de  musique  et  de  declamation"  expresses  its  aim  as  fosterer  not 
only  of  music  but  also  of  dramatic  acting,  was  designed,  according 
to  the  plan  of  its  founder,  SARRETTE,  primarily  for  the  education 
of  French  military  musicians,  as  up  to  that  time  Germans  were 
the  only  ones  to  be  had.  But  after  the  government  had  assumed 
the  care  of  the  school  originally  supported  by  SARRETTE  out  of 
his  private  means,  its  sphere  of  activity  was  enlarged;  the  first 
musicians  of  France*  came  together  to  labor  in  common,  and  as 
first  fruit  of  their  activity  appeared  a  number  of  instruction- 
books  for  all  branches  of  musical  technics,  the  utility  of  most  of 
which  has  been  attested  down  to  the  present  day.  In  other 
respects  also  the  labors  of  those  men  were  accompanied  with 
the  best  success,  so  that  in  but  few  years  after  the  opening  of 
the  institution  the  Germans  were  no  longer  needed.  The  German 
spirit,  indeed,  continued  even  thenceforward  to  influence  French 
music,  as  is  proved,  e.  g.,  by  the  works  of  MEHUL,  whose  "Joseph 
in  Egypt"  (1807)  makes  no  concessions  to  the  national  taste  of 

*  Among  them  GOSSEC,  MEHUL,  CHERUBINI,  the  last-named  from  1821 
to  1842  director  of  the  Conservatory;  he  was  followed  by  ATJBER  (died  1871). 
and  the  latter  by  AMBROISE  THOMAS. 


FRL.NUI   OPERA.  91 

the  French;  farther,  by  those  of  CHERUBINI,  who  as  opera-com- 
poser first  made  his  mark  in  Vienna,  and  was  acknowledged  by 
the  musicians  there,  including  BEETHOVEN,  as  insurpassable  master 
in  this  kind;  lastly  by  those  of  SPONTINI,  who,  although  the  ge- 
nuine musical  representative  of  Napoleonic  France,  yet  as  musical 
dramatist  closely  follows  GLUCK,  and  during  the  larger  part  of 
his  artist-career  labored  in  Germany,  specifically  in  Berlin,  where 
he  had  from  1820  to  18 11  the  position  of  general  music-director. 
The  French  spirit,  on  the  other  hand,  from  henceforward  finds  its 
expression  almost  exclusively  in  comic  opera,  and  here  in  its 
greatest  purity  in  BOIELDIEU  ("Caliph  of  Bagdad",  1800;  "John  of 
Paris",  1812),  and  AUBER  ("The  Mason",  1825). 

To  the  many  foreigners  who,  influenced  by  the  national  taste, 
became  tributary  to  French  grand  opera,  we  must  yet  add  MEYER- 
BEER (born  at  Berlin,  1794,  died  at  Paris,  1864).  He  might,  by 
reason  of  his  brilliant  musical  talent  and  his  insight  and  experience 
in  regard  of  dramatic  effect,  have  been  the  man  to  promote  French 
opera  in  every  direction,  had  he  not  allowed  the  desire  for  out- 
ward effect  to  prevent  him  from  rightly  and  conscientiously  apply- 
ing his  gifts.  In  this  endeavor  he  almost  entirely  loses  sight  of 
art-fitness  and  purity  of  style  and  is  in  the  main  satisfied  with 
astonishing  the  public  by  constantly  employing  new  stimulants. 
The  applause  which  nevertheless  his  operas  have  met  with  in 
France  and  everywhere,  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  latest 
generation  of  composers  for  grand  opera  have  in  the  main  followed 
his  example.  On  the  other  hand,  it  appears  that  the  more  ideal 
tendency  of  dramatic  music  so  ardently  pursued  for  the  last  fte- 
cennium  in  Germany  has  found  numerous  followers  among  the 
French  musicians  of  the  present  time.  From  them  we  may  expect 
with  certainty  an  enrichment  and  ennobling  of  French  opera, 
provided  that  they  avoid  the  rock  on  which  so  many  of  their 
countrymen  have  been  shipwrecked :  the  giddy  pursuit  of  quick  artis- 
tic successes,  the  over-estimation  of  the  vox  populi  at  the  expense 
of  their  musical  conscience. 


vm. 

GERMAN  OPERA. 


Opera  in  Germany  —  as  the  title  of  this  chapter  ought  in 
strictness  to  read,  seeing  that  a  national  opera,  such  as  Italy  and 
France  had  possessed  as  early  as  in  the  17th  century,  could,  dur- 
ing the  period  to  be  described,  not,  or  at  least  only  imperfectly, 
be  developed  among  the  Germans  —  opera  in  Germany  took, 
like  French  opera,  its  start  from  the  Italian,  and  it  is  a  remark- 
able fact  that  the  Fatherland  anticipated  all  other  countries  in 
introducing  the  art-species  newly  discovered  in  Florence.  It  was 
the  elector  JOHN  GEORGE  I.  of  Saxony,  that  brought  about  the 
first  opera-performance  in  Germany,  the  occasion  being  the  mar- 
riage of  his  daughter  to  the  landgrave  of  Hesse-Darmstadt,  to 
which  latter  he  wished  to  offer  an  art-enjoyment  of  a  special 
nature.  There  was,  to  be  sure,  at  that  time  no  lack  in  Germany 
of  theatrical  representations  of  various  kinds.  For  a  century  the 
sacked  plays  had,  in  consequence  of  the  Keformation,  been  re- 
placed by  the  so-called  "Moralities",  a  kind  of  dramatic  perform- 
ance imported  from  France,  having  chiefly  moral  and  theological 
aims,  personifications  of  virtues  and  vices  being  mingled  with  the 
characters  of  bible-history.  Alternately  with  these  were  played 
Student-Comedies  in  Latin  and  German,  in  which  at  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  Renascence  is  seen  the  endeavor  to  bring  about  a 
regeneration  of  the  drama  after  the  classical  pattern.  Besides 
these,  the  carnival  plays  had  sprung  up  from  the  midst  of  the 
people,  which  were  arranged  by  guilds  of  citizens  and  artisans, 
and,  after  poets  like  HANS  SACHS  (end  of  the  16th  century)  and 
JACOB  AYRER  (beginning  of  the  17th  century)  had  devoted  their 
talents  to  them,  aroused  such  interest  that  they  were  no  longer 


GERMAN  OPERA.  93 

restricted  to  the  carnival  season  but  were  performed  the  whole 
year  round. 

Festivities  of  this  kind,  however,  appeared  to  the  elector  in- 
sufficient for  the  entertainment  of  his  guest,  after  the  news  of 
the  revival  of  the  antique  music-drama  had  come  to  him  from 
Italy.  Accordingly  he  charged  his  court-music-director,  HEINRICH 
ScnOrz  (of  whom  we  shall  speak  later),  to  order  from  Florence 
PERI'S  and  Rixuccmfs  maiden  opera  "Daphne",  and  the  poet 
MARTIN  OPITZ  to  turn  the  text  into  German.  As,  however,  the 
German  version  would  not  suit  PERI'S  music,  ScHCxz  was  obliged 
to  set  it  to  original  music,  and  now  at  last  (April  13,  1627)  the 
opera  could  be  performed.  As  to  the  success  of  this  performance 
we  are  left  in  uncertainty;  ScnOrz's  music,  too,  has  not  been 
preserved,  which  would  be  deplorable  were  we  not  justified  in 
assuming  that  the  composer  closely  imitated  the  Italian  style,  of 
which  he  was  a  fervent  admirer.  It  was  not  possible  that  this 
first  appearance  of  opera  should  have  a  permanent  effect,  for  the 
reason  that  soon  afterwards  the  disturbances  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  rendered  infeasible  the  promotion  of  the  arts  in  general.  As 
for  SCHUTZ,  after  the  restoration  of  an  orderly  state  of  Ahings 
he  no  longer  composed  for  the  theatre,*  but  devoted  himself  to 
sacred  music  exclusively,  leaving  opera  to  the  Italians  who  came 
to  Dresden  in  1562,  after  the  regular  theatrical  performances  had 
been  renewed  upon  the  accession  of  JOHN  GEORGE  II.  to  the 
throne.  To  set  up  domestic  against  foreign  art  would  have  met 
with  as  little  encouragement  here  as  in  the  other  capitals  of  Ger- 
many, since  the  political  and  material  distress  consequent  upon 
the  war  seemed  to  have  paralyzed  for  ever  the  intellectual  elasti- 
city of  the  people,  and  with  the  exclusive  preference  of  the  princes 
for  everything  foreign  it  was  all  the  easier  for  Italian  opera  to 
attain  absolute  dominion. 

One  single  city  of  Germany  made  at  that  time  an  exception 
—  Hamburg,  which  on  account  of  its  geographical  position  had 
had  less  to  suffer  from  the  ravages  of  war,  and  by  its  commercial 
energy  had  for  a  long  time  attained  to  wealth,  but  at  the  same 
time  so  earnestly  pursued  the  ideal  aims  of  life  that  in  this  re- 

•  With  the  single  exception  of  one  work,  the  "Orpheus",  composed  after 
a  second  journey  to  Italy,  performed  Nov.  20,  1638,  at  Dresden,  the  music  of 
which  is  also  no  longer  extant 


94  GERMAN  OPERA. 

epect,  especially  as  nursery  of  music,  it  had  during  the  second 
half  of  the  17th  century  the  highest  reputation  throughout  all 
Germany.  How  highly  art  and  its  representatives  were  esteemed 
here  is  shown  by  the  fact  (among  others)  that  CHRISTOPH  BERN- 
HARD,  when  he  was  called  from  Dresden  to  be  town-precentor,* 
was  ceremoniously  received  by  the  notables  of  the  city,  who  rode 
in  six  coaches  as  far  as  Bergedcrf  —  two  miles  distant  —  to  meet 
him.  Especially  was  there  in  Hamburg  no  lack  at  any  time  of 
excellent  organists;  among  them  must  be  specially  mentioned 
JOHANN  ADAM  REINKEN,  whose  playing  had  such  an  attraction 
for  SEBASTIAN  BACH  (among  others)  that  the  latter  during  his 
school-days  repeatedly  made  his  way  on  foot  from  Liineburg  to 
Hamburg  to  hear  the  master.  Under  these  circumstances  sacred 
music  was  necessarily  the  first  to  feel  the  influence  of  the  pro- 
gress made  in  Italy  through  the  development  of  the  dramatic 
element  in  music.  Hamburg  consequently  became  the  place  for 
solving  the  question,  discussed  everywhere  in  Germany,  whether 
in  church-music  the  simple,  sombre  ancient  style,  or  a  "subdued 
theatrical"  style  with  strong  emotions  and  touching  expression, 
should  be  preferred.  The  Hamburg  composers  KEISER,  MATTIIE- 
SON,  TELEMANN,  advocated  the  latter  style,  and  urged  that  "as 
the  divine  music  best  exhibited  its  excellency  in  opera,  the  most 
fashionable  piece  of  poetry,  so  much  the  more  reason  was  there 
for  giving  a  like  advantage  to  church-music,  consecrated  directly 
to  God's  glory".  On  the  basis  of  these  principles  and  by  adapting 
the  vocal  forms  of  Italian  opera  to  sacred  texts  were  first  pro- 
duced the  great  church-cantatas,  then  the  "Passion"  in  the  form 
in  which  BACH  afterwards  brought  it  to  perfection. 

At  first  this  dramatic  church-music  found  universal  applause. 
Even  among  the  clergy  there  was  no  lack  of  earnest  advocates 
of  the  new  tendency,  in  fact  some  of  their  number  had  them- 
selves given  the  impulse  to  the  movement,  as  for  instance  ERD- 
MANN  NEUMEISTER,  who  had  for  many  years  written  texts  of 
church-cantatas  in  operatic  form.  When,  however,  the  poets  be- 
gan, by  individual  --  for  the  most  part  anything  but  sublime  — 
inspiration,  to  crowd  the  sacred  text  more  and  more  out  of  the 


*  Stadtcantor  in  German,   one  who  is  appointed  to  have  charge  of  the 
music  in  the  churches  of  a  town  or  city.  Translator. 


GERMAN   OPERA.  95 

Passion-poems ,    the   orthodox  clergy   felt  that    they    were    called 

upon  to   protest  energetically  against  the  mixture  of  sacred  and 

•  secular,  and  from  the  contradiction  of  opinions   sprang  a  literary 

I  feud  which  lasted  for  years,   and  even  extended  far  beyond  the 

limits  of  Hamburg. 

This  short  indication  of  the  attempts  originated  at  Hamburg 

towards  the  formation  of  a  new  church-style  —  the  farther  results 

I  of  which  will  be  discussed  in  the  next  section  —  may  suffice  to 

i  explain  why  precisely  Hamburg  could  undertake  to  lead  the  way 

in  the   domain  of  opera  also.    Until  1678  the  German  song-plays 

[  performed  here  were  mere  imitations   of  the  French    operettas; 

but  meanwhile  the  innovations  in  church-music  had  awakened  the 

impulse  to   aim  at  higher  things  for  the  theatre  also.    Not  only 

the  artistic  body  and   the  most  respected  citizens,  but  also  part 

of  the  clergy  were  altogether  favorable  to  the  plan  of  a  national 

opera;   the  preacher  at  St.  Catherine's  church,  ELMEXHORST,  not 

\  satisfied  with  publicly  approving  of  it,   cooperated  personally  in 

its   accomplishment  by  writing  opera-texts.     In  the  year    above 

mentioned,  however,   these  wishes  were  to  find  their  realization 

through  the  agency  of  the  organist  REINKEN,  who  had  united  with 

others  in   a  theatrical  undertaking  in  grand  style,  and  on  the  2d 

of  January  the   first  German   opera-house   was   opened  with  the 

opera  "Adam  and  Eve,  or  the  created,  fallen  and  redeemed  man", 

text  by  RICHTER,  music  by  music-director  THEILE. 

The  interest  aroused  by  this  first  attempt  in  all  circles  of 
the  population  of  Hamburg  must  have  excited  hope  for  the  pros- 
perity of  German  opera.  The  German  national  feeling  could  here 
all  the  more  readily  put  its  stamp  on  the  foreign  product,  in  that, 
owing  to  the  republican  constitution  of  the  city,  every  regard  for 
court  and  aristocracy  was  dispensed  with.  If  nevertheless  the 
Hamburg  opera  could  not  be  brought  to  a  complete  whole  it  was 
not  for  lack  of  able  composers,  but  owing  to  the  dissension 
between  the  poetic  dilettanteisms  of  the  experts  and  those  of  the 
people,  for  which  there  was  no  suitable  mediator  among  the  poets 
of  that  time.  It  was  impossible  for  the  people  to  take  delight 
in  the  sacred  and  antique  materials  exclusively  employed  at  tha+ 
time,  for  which  reason  it  was  judged  necessary  to  infuse  int« 
even  the  most  serious  situations  a  ludicrous  element.  At  the  sara« 
t'r~»  no  pains  were  spared  to  gratify  the  sense  of  sight, 


96  QEEMAN   OPERA. 

accordingly  the  operas  were  got  up  as  to  externals  with  a  care- 
fulness strikingly  contrasting  with  the  slovenliness  and  hollowness 
of  the  poems.  Not  the  least  of  the  difficulties  with  which  the 
Hamburg  opera  had  to  contend  was  the  lack  of  efficient  singers, 
especially  females :  the  castrati  had  never  been  liked  in  Hamburg, 
and  the  daughters  of  semi-respectable  families  were  deterred  by 
the  dominant  prejudices  against  the  theatre  from  devoting  them- 
selves to  the  stage.  Accordingly  one  had  to  take,  as  DOMMER 
says  (History  of  Music),  what  one  could  get;  under  the  mask  of 
Olympic  gods  and  heroes  were  sheltered  cobblers  and  tailors, 
runaway  students  and  vagabonds  of  all  sorts,  and  similarly  the 
mistresses  of  the  fish  and  vegetable  markets  figured  along  side 
of  the  priestesses  of  Venus  vulgivaga  as  antique  goddesses  and 
queens. 

A  new  life  began  for  the  Hamburg  opera  with  the  advent 
of  music-director  KUSSER  (or  COUSSER)  from  Pressburg  (1693), 
who  introduced,  first,  by  means  of  his  operas  modelled  after  those 
of  STEPFANI,  a  better  style  of  writing  and  of  singing,  then  also 
a  stricter  discipline  among  the  actors,  and  through  his  energy 
combined  with  amiability  accomplished  all  that  under  the  circum- 
stances was  possible.  His  exertions  as  composer,  and  as  director 
and  teacher  of  the  artists  committed  to  his  care  were  so  success- 
ful that  MATTHESON  in  his  book  "The  perfect  music-director"  held 
him  up  as  the  ideal  of  one  holding  that  office.  But  still  more 
genial  than  KUSSER'S  were  the  labors  of  the  Leipsic  composer 
KEINHARD  KEISER,  who  settled  in  Hamburg  in  1694,  and  in  a 
short  time  became,  through  his  fresh,  vigorous  talent,  the  hero 
of  the  day.  KEISER'S  productivity  was  extraordinary;  he  wrote 
120  operas,  some  of  which  were  given  even  in  Paris,  though 
without  special  success,  as  they  were  inferior  from  the  dramatic 
side  to  the  French  operas,  and,  as  regards  vocal  effect,  to  the 
Italian.  His  music  was  well  spoken  of  by  his  contemporaries,  but 
as  he  had  no  higher  aim  than  to  please  the  public  of  his  day, 
he  became  more  and  more  estranged  from  the  ideal  and  his  talent 
steadily  declined. 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  freshness  inherent  in  the  music-life 
of  Hamburg  that  even  a  HANDEL  was  attracted  by  it  and  devoted 
his  efforts  for  three  years  —  1703  to  1706  —  to  the  theatre  of 
that  city.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  Hamburg  opera  fell  in 


GERMAN   OPERA.  97 

a  few  decennaries  from  the  height  so  quickly  attained;  external 
stimulants  were  more  and  more  recklessly  supplied,  to  make  up 
for  interior  barrenness  of  style.  Heaven  and  hell,  battles  and  other 
spectacles  were  represented;  horses,  asses,  camels  and  monkeys 
appeared  more  and  more  frequently  on  the  stage;  the  fool  and 
the  merry- Andrew  played  their  pranks,  in  the  serious  opera  as  in 
the  farce,  with  ever  increasing  obtrusiveness.  Even  TELEMANN, 
famous  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Germany,  who  was  called 
from  Frankfort  in  1721  to  prop  up  the  opera  after  MATTHESON 
and  REISER  had  already  withdrawn  from  it,  could  not  prevent  its 
fall:  in  1738  German  opera  is  utterly  discontinued,  and  the 
Italians,  for  a  long  time  already  supreme  in  the  other  capitals  of 
Germany,  now  make  their  triumphal  entry  into  Hamburg  also. 

After  the  failure  of  the  Hamburgers  to  sustain  a  national 
opera,  nothing  is  heard  for  some  decennaries  of  farther  attempts 
in  this  direction.  About  the  middle  of  the  century,  however, 
German  opera  begins  to  stir  itself,  in  connection  with  the  upward 
flight  of  German  poetry  brought  about  by  the  poets  of  the  so- 
called  Prussian  school  of  Frederick  the  Great's  time  —  Uz,  GLEIM, 
RAMLER,  KLOPSTOCE,  LESSIXG.  In  the  domain  of  the  musical 
drama  this  movement  is  manifested  in  a  threefold  way,  and  that, 
too,  each  time  under  foreign  influence.  GLUCK  finds  in  LULLI'S 
French  opera  the  most  suitable  means  of  asserting  the  power 
of  his  German  spirit  as  opposed  to  the  Italian  effeminacy;  MOZART 
selects  SCARLATTI'S  Italian  opera  as  the  starting-point  of  his  own 
—  interiorly  likewise  good  —  German  art-endeavors;  finally,  the 
French  comic  opera,  called  into  life  at  the  same  time  by  the  help 
of  the  Italian  opera  buffo, ,  suggests  the  idea  of  re-instating  and 
ennobling  the  German  song-play.*  These  reformatory  efforts  had 
sprung,  in  Germany  as  in  France,  from  the  desire  to  return  from 
an  art  estranged  from  everything  natural  to  primitive  simplicity 
and  to  an  unaffected  manner  of  feeling.  Naturally,  in  this  the 
song-play  fell  into  the  opposite  faults  of  the  grand  opera:  while 
the  latter  had  lost  the  basis  of  reality  under  its  feet,  the  former 
degenerated  into  coarse  commonplace  But  it  made  up  for  this 
by  bringing  into  prominence  two  vivacious  elements,  jest  and 


*  In  the  original  German  Singtpitl,  meaning  a  form  of  opera  admitting 
spoken  language,  thus  differing  from  grand  opera.  (Translator.} 


98  GERMAN   OPERA. 

drollery,  which  were  calculated  to  atone  for  much  that  was  defec- 
tive, even  though  the  means  employed  were  not  always  of  the 
most  refined. 

This  time  Leipsic  is  the  city  to  hold  out  its  hand  to  German 
opera  in  its  bold  attempt  to  dispute  the  field  with  the  Italian. 
Here  in  1765  the  first  song-play  was  performed,  entitled  "The 
Devil  is  loose,  or,  The  transformed  women",  the  libretto  (from 
English  material)  by  the  poet  WEISSE,  the  music  by  JOHANN  ADAM 
HILLER,  cantor  at  the  St.  Thomas  church.  The  latter  had,  in  his 
endeavor  to  raise  the  art-species  to  a  higher  plane  of  art,  to  con- 
tend with  a  twofold  difficulty.  In  the  first  place,  the  theatre- 
director  KOCH  required  of  him  that  the  music  should  throughout 
be  so  simple  that  each  one  of  the  audience  could  occasionally 
join  in  it;  in  the  next  place,  the  singers  proved  utterly  incapable 
of  accomplishing  what  HILLER  required  of  them,  seeing  that  now, 
as  formerly  in  Hamburg,  the  best  vocalists  had  been  secured  by 
the  Italian  opera.  The  Prussian  music-director  REICHARDT  writes 
concerning  this :  "As  often  as  there  came  an  air  by  HILLER  which 
was  full  of  noble  feeling  and  very  expressive,  I  imagined  to  my- 
self how  he  used  to  sing  it  to  me  at  his  piano,  and  then  I  had 
to  listen  to  the  bawling  of  this  or  that  big-mouthed  female  singer 
and  the  night-watchman's  voice  of  the  lover".  Notwithstanding 
all  this  KILLER'S  operas  were  universally  liked  and  were  spread 
over  all  Germany,  especially  "The  Village  barber"  and  "The  Hunt", 
which  latter  was  performed  in  Berlin  in  1771  no  less  than  forty 
times  in  the  course  of  the  year. 

In  Vienna  German  song-plays  and  operettas  had  already  be- 
fore this  been  performed  by  itinerant  theatrical  troupes,  and  as 
early  as  1751  a  JOSEPH  HAYDN  had  tried  his  powers  in  this  de- 
partment. But  his  operetta  "Der  krumme  Teufel"  (a  satire  on  the 
impresario  AFFLIGIO),  like  MOZART'S  song-play  "Bastien  und 
Bastienne",  performed  in  private  in  1768,  could  not  exercise  any 
influence  upon  the  farther  development  of  that  species,  because 
both  works,  as  youthful  and  occasional  productions,  could  not  lay 
claim  to  higher  art-worth  and  general  estimation.  Not  until  the 
going  into  effect  of  the  emperor  JOSEPH  II.'s  German-national 
tendencies  does  operetta  begin  to  lift  up  its  head.  From  the  time 
of  his  accession  (1765)  this  monarch  had  patronized  the  German 
stage,  as  an  indispensable  aid  to  national  culture,  and  in  later 


GERMAN  OPERA.  Q9 

years  he  came  to  the  determination  to  suppress  utterly  Italian 
opera  and  the  ballet,  in  order  to  substitute  for  them  the  "national 
song-play",  as  he  called  German  opera.  The  artist  whom  JOSEPH  IL 
after  a  long  search  found  worthiest  to  begin  the  series  of  German 
opera-composers  was  IGNAZ  UMLAUP,  then  a  viola-player  in  the 
orchestra,  Vaos',  "Bergknappen"  ("The  Miners"),  after  gaining  the 
emperor's  approval  at  the  general  rehearsal,  was  in  1778  for  the 
first  time  produced  in  public.  Then  followed  a  series  of  song- 
plays,  partly  translated  from  the  Italian  or  French,  partly  written 
by  Viennese  poets  and  composers.  Among  the  latter  was  MOZART 
also,  whose  long-cherished  plan  to  write  a  German  opera  could 
now  at  last  be  carried  out.  He  found  a  suitable  libretto  in 
BRETZNER'S  "Entflihrung  aus  dem  Serail"  ("II  Seraglio");  at  the 
beginning  of  1782  the  composition  was  finished,  and  on  July  12th 
of  the  same  year  the  work  was  performed  for  the  first  time,  amid 
the  enthusiastic  applause  of  the  Viennese  public. 

Strangely  enough,  MOZART,  in  spite  of  this  brilliant  success, 
and  although  the  "Entfuhrung"  came  much  nearer  to  the  ideal  set 
up  by  the  emperor  JOSEPH  than  all  the  works  of  previous  com- 
posers, nevertheless  received  no  commission  for  farther  works  of 
this  kind.  The  emperor  himself  seems  to  have  not  clearly  recog- 
nized the  significance  of  what  he  had  called  into  being,  for  he 
criticized  MOZART'S  music  rather  coolly.  "Too  beautiful  for  our 
ears  and  very  many  notes,  dear  MOZART",  said  he  to  the  com- 
poser, to  which  the  latter  replied:  "Just  so  many  notes,  your 
Majesty,  as  are  necessary."  Much  more  deeply  interested  in  MO- 
ZART'S opera  was  the  venerable  master  GLUCK,  at  whose  request 
it  was  once  performed  even  out  of  the  opera-season.  GOETHE, 
who  had  by  his  operetta-librettos  "Erwin  und  Elmire",  and  "Clau- 
dine  von  Villabella"  evinced  his  interest  in  the  development  of 
the  German  song-play,  and  had  set  great  hopes  on  a  third  poem, 
"Scherz,  List  und  Rache",  set  to  music  by  his  friend  CHRISTOPH 
KAYSER,  wrote  shortly  after  the  appearance  of  the  "Entfuhrung"  • 
"Unfortunately  our  piece  suffered  from  a  vocal  leanness,  it  mounted 
no  higher  than  to  a  terzetto,  and  one  would  have  given  a  great 
deal  for  a  chorus.  Hence  all  our  efforts  to  keep  within  the  simple 
and  limited  were  thrown  away  when  MOZART  appeared.  The 
"Entfuhrung"  struck  down  every  thing,  and  on  the  stage  nothing 
was  said  of  our  so  carefully  prepared  piece".  In  fact  the  German 


100  GERMAN  OPERA. 

operetta,  which  had  been  opposed  by  men  like  GLEIM  and  LESSING 
as  hurtful  to  culture  and  destructive  of  taste,  had  gained  under 
MOZA.RT  a  place  among  the  serious,  noble  art-species.  The  master 
who  in  his  Italian  operas  "Don  Giovanni"  and  "Figaro"  has 
proved  his  ability  to  transplant  himself  into  the  character  and 
modes  of  expression  of  a  foreign  nation,  shows  himself  in  the 
"Entfiihrung"  a  thorough  German. 

Incomparably  greater  applause  than  MOZART  received  was 
won  from  his  contemporaries  by  the  operetta-composer  CARL 
DITTER  VON  DITTERSDORF,  because  he  adapted  himself  in  his 
artistic  productions  to  the  degree  of  musical  culture  of  his  sur- 
roundings, instead  of  rising  above  them,  as  MOZART  did.  After 
having  passed  through  a  strict  school  of  composition,  as  shown 
by  his  string-quartets,  which  in  sterling  worth  closely  approach 
those  of  HAYDN,  DITTERSDORF  afterwards  found  in  comic  opera  and 
opera  buffa  the  proper  field  for  his  activity.  The  melodic  richness 
of  his  music  and  the  genuineness  of  his  formations,  constantly 
drawn  from  life,  procured  for  him  at  his  very  first  appearance  as 
opera-composer  with  the  "Doctor  und  Apotheker"  (1786),  a  popu- 
larity such  as  neither  HAYDN  nor  MOZART  at  that  time  enjoyed. 
The  opera  just  mentioned  was  given  in  Vienna  twenty  times  in 
the  same  year,  and  two  years  later  in  London  thirty-six  times  in 
succession,  and  his  other  operas,  some  thirty  in  number,  obtained 
like  good  fortune.  Besides  DITTERSDORF  are  to  be  mentioned  as 
Viennese  composers  of  song-plays  JOHANN  SCHENCK,  famous 
through  his  "Dorfbarbier",  also  as  musical  adviser  of  the  youth- 
ful BEETHOVEN;  WENZEL  MULLER,  composer  of  more  than  two 
hundred  song-plays  of  a  low-comic  order,  among  which  "Die 
Schwestern  von  Prag"  held  its  place  on  the  German  stage  long 
after  his  death;  FERDINAND  KAUER,  whose  "Donauweibchen"  was 
for  a  half  century  the  delight  of  the  frequenters  of  the  popular 
theatres,  —  and  others.  The  partiality  of  the  public  for  these 
works  of  a  lighter  kind  may  well  have  disquieted  those  who  had 
destined  a  more  ideal  sphere  of  action  for  German  opera.  But 
it  was  soon  to  be  seen  that  these  composers  also  had  jointly 
helped  to  refine  the  national  musical  taste;  for,  when  MOZART 
came  forward  on  September  30,  1791  (the  year  of  his  death),  with 
a  second  German  opera,  the  "Zauberflote",  he  was  incomparably 
better  understood  than  with  his  "Entfiihrung".  It  is  through  the 


GERMAN  OPERA.  ]  ill 

"Zauberflote"  that  MOZART  has  opened  to  his  nation  the  sanctuary 
of  German  art.  While  in  the  case  of  the  "EntfGhrung"  the  pri- 
mary purpose  was  to  lift  up  the  German  song-play  to  the  level 
of  the  opera,  here  the  main  point  was  to  find  forms  which  would 
allow  perfect  freedom  to  dramatic  characterization.  How  the 
master  succeeded  in  this  is  seen  in  every  measure  of  the  score 
—  excepting  of  course  the  two  arias  of  the  "Queen  of  night", 
which  he  wrote  out  of  consideration  for  the  "voluble  throat"  of 
his  oldest  sister-in-law,  Frau  HOFER,  —  and  how  his  German 
nature,  in  spite  of  his  long  intercourse  with  Italian  art,  remains 
utterly  unadulterated,  is  seen  precisely  in  the  "Zauberflote"  with 
convincing  certainty,  for  instance,  in  the  amiable  carrying  out  of 
the  popular  figure  of  Papageno,  and  no  less  in  the  religious  cere- 
monials of  the  opera  that  pertain  to  free-masonry. 

BEETHOVEN  declared  the  "Zauberflote~  MOZART'S  greatest  work, 
"for  here  he  has  shown  himself  as  German  master"  -  and  by 
this  utterance  his  own  standing  as  German  composer  is  sufficiently 
characterized.  As  such  he  too  had  to  aim  at  the  perfecting  of 
German  opera,  yet  it  was  not  given  him  to  surpass  MOZAUT  in 
this  domain,  because  the  chief  problem  of  his  age,  the  develop- 
ment of  instrumental  music,  preeminently  claimed  his  attention. 
As  the  study  of  dramatic  and  artistic  singing  was  till  the  close 
of  the  previous  century  the  indispensable  basis  of  musical  educa- 
tion, so  had  BEETHOVEN  also  gone  through  this  school,  and  indeed 
under  the  direction  of  SALIERI,  famous  as  teacher  and  as  opera- 
composer  (from  MARIA  THERESA'S  time  up  to  his  death  in  1825 
court  music-director  in  Vienna).  Yet  already  in  BEETHOVEN'S  first 
opera,  "Fidelio",  which  was  also  to  be  his  only  one,  it  was 
evident  that  he  had  by  no  means  adequately  utilized  the  vocal 
instructions  of  this  master,  and  the  complaints  of  "unsingableness" 
which  were  heard  during  the  rehearsals  of  this  opera  were  only 
too  well-founded.  For  BEETHOVEN,  accustomed  by  the  tractability 
of  the  instruments  to  indulge  his  flights  of  fancy  without  restraint, 
had  neglected  to  take  account  of  the  conditions  under  which  alone 
the  human  voice  can  attain  to  full  effect.  Just  so  little  was  he 
capable  of  doing  justice  to  the  scenic  requirements,  and  as  he 
moreover  rejected  with  his  peculiar  obstinacy  all  suggestions  of 
betterment,  the  reception  of  the  "Fidelio"  on  its  first  appearance 
(Nov.  20,  1805)  could  not  but  be  a  cool  one.  The  Viennese  re- 

OF 


DEPARTMEN 
UNIVERSITY 


1()2  GERMAN  OPERA. 

porter  of  the  journal  "Der  Freimiithige",  edited  by  KOTZEBUE, 
wrote  at  that  time:  "A  new  opera  by  BEETHOVEN,  'Fidelio,  or 
Conjugal  Love',  did  not  please.  It  was  performed  but  a  few  times, 
and,  after  the  first  representation,  to  empty  houses.  The  music 
also  is  really  far  below  the  expectations  to  which  experts  and 
amateurs  thought  they  had  a  right.  The  melodies  and  the  char- 
acterization, exquisite  as  much  of  it  is,  lack  nevertheless  that 
happy,  striking,  irresistible  expression  of  passion  that  carries  us 
away  in  MOZART'S  and  CHERUBINI'S  works;  the  music  has  some 
charming  passages,  but  it  is  far  from  being  a  perfect,  or  even  a 
successful  work". 

In  explanation  of  the  slender  applause  bestowed  on  "Fidelio" 
on  its  first  appearance,  we  must  also  take  into  account  the  un- 
favorable outward  circumstances  under  which  the  work  came  be- 
fore the  public.  A  few  days  before,  the  court  and  the  nobility 
of  Vienna  had  been  driven  out  of  the  city  by  the  entrance  of  the 
French  under  NAPOLEON;  the  theatres  remained  at  first  quite 
empty,  and  the  audience  which  by  degrees  gathered  in  them  con- 
sisted exclusively  of  French  soldiery.  The  "Fidelio"  had  some- 
what better  fortune  when  it  was  resumed  in  the  following  year, 
after  the  political  situation  had  cleared  up  and  moreover  the  com- 
poser had  consented  to  a  partial  revision  of  his  score.  Then  it 
again  rested  for  some  years,  and  it  was  not  till  1814  that  "Fidelio", 
newly  retouched  and  represented  for  the  third  time,  could  be  fully 
understood  and  become  common  property  of  the  German  people. 
Without  venturing  to  place  it  beside,  much  less  above,  MOZART'S 
masterworks  in  art-value,  we  must  nevertheless  regard  it  as  a 
precious  legacy  of  BEETHOVEN'S  genius.  Here  the  master  could  of 
course  not  attest  his  whole  power  and  originality,  since  the  forms 
to  which  the  opera  was  restricted  at  his  time  and  which  he  did 
not  as  yet  venture  to  demolish,  offered  insurmountable  obstacles 
to  his  yearnings  for  artistic  freedom.  "While  in  the  oratorio  and 
especially  in  the  symphony  a  noble,  perfect  form  lay  before  the 
German  master,  the  opera  offered  him  an  incoherent  medley  of 
small  undeveloped  forms,  to  which  was  attached  a  conventionalism 
incomprehensible  to  him  and  restrictive  of  all  freedom  of  devel- 
opment. If  we  compare  the  broadly  and  richly  developed  forms 
of  a  BEETHOVEN  symphony  with  the  different  pieces  in  his  'Fidelio', 
we  at  once  perceive  how  the  master  here  felt  himself  restrained 


GERMAN  OPERA.  103 

and  hindered,  and  could  hardly  ever  attain  to  the  proper  unfolding 
of  his  power.  For  this  reason,  as  if  to  launch  forth  at  least  for 
once  in  his  entire  fulness,  he  threw  himself  as  it  were  with  all 
the  weight  of  desperation  into  the  overture,  projecting  in  it  a 
composition  of  previously  unknown  breadth  and  significance.  He 
withdrew  in  ill  humor  from  this  sole  attempt  at  an  opera,  yet 
without  giving  up  the  wish  to  find  a  poem  that  would  enable  him 
to  display  his  musical  power.  The  Ideal  it  was,  that  was  con- 
stantly before  his  mind."* 

The  prevailing  state  of  operatic  affairs  at  BEETHOVEN'S  time, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  his  introverted,  altogether 
subjective  artist -nature  explain  why  the  "Fidelio"  remained  a 
solitary  performance,  a  performance  indeed  in  a  high  degree 
honorable  to  its  author,  yet  not  calculated  to  insure  him  a  place 
among  the  corypheuses  of  German  opera.  He  has,  however,  in- 
directly rendered  to  opera  a  highly  important  service,  as  it  was 
he  that  gave  the  instruments  a  capability  of  expression  unexcelled 
even  to  this  day,  to  that  extent  that  in  the  orchestra  was  found 
a  tone-language  for  revealing  the  most  secret  emotions  of  the 
soul.  With  the  aid  of  the  Beethovenian  orchestra  the  composers  of 
the  romantic  school  who  succeeded  BEETHOVEN  ventured  to  under- 
take to  guide  German  opera  into  new  pathways,  and  under  the 
fructifying  influence  of  his  genius  it  could  become  possible  that 
a  national  music-drama,  such  as  had  long  been  possessed  by  Italy 
and  France,  should  be  brought  to  perfect  maturity  in  Germany  also. 


•  RICHARD  WAGNER'S  "Zukunftsmusik".    Collected  Worka,  VoL  VIL 


tx. 

THE  ORATORIO. 


The  traces  of  the  sacred  music-drama,  which,  divested  of 
external  accessories,  action,  costume  and  decorations,  has  attained 
under  the  name  "Oratorio"  so  great  importance  in  the  music-life 
of  our  day,  can  be  followed  up  into  a  far  more  remote  antiquity 
than  those  of  the  secular.  Not  only  is  the  Greek  tragedy  to  be 
classed,  as  a  religious  ceremony,  in  this  category;  the  celebration 
also  of  the  mysteries  by  the  Egyptian  priests,  as  described  by 
HERODOTUS,  in  which  were  represented,  undoubtedly  with  musical 
accompaniment,  the  sufferings  of  the  god  Osiris,  may  rank  as  a 
kind  of  passion-play,  and  similarly,  among  the  Hebrews  the  rich 
temple-worship  at  King  David's  time,  his  dancing  before  the  ark, 
and  the  antiphonal  singing  of  the  psalms,  point  to  amusico-drar 
matic  form  of  divine  worship.  The  Christian  church  in  early  times 
united  a  dramatic  element  with  its  ceremonial,  from  the  conviction 
that  sensuous  perception  operated  more  powerfully  on  the  minds 
of  the  new  converts  than  mere  doctrine.  The  gospel  was  at  first 
acted  out,  or,  as  it  was  said  afterwards,  impersonated,  whereby 
the  whole  action  acquired  a  dramatic  appearance;  one  priest  re- 
cited the  words  of  Jesus,  another  those  of  the  evangelist;  the 
multitude,  the  disciples  and  the  Sanhedrim  were  represented  by 
the  choir  of  singers.  As,  however,  the  singing  was  in  no  wise 
distinguishable  from  that  prescribed  for  the  divine  service,  the 
difference  between  these  representations  and  the  usual  ritual  was 
scarcely  noticeable. 

A  more  marked  prominence  of  the  dramatic  as  also  of  the 
musical  element  is  seen  in  the  representations  of  the  Passion  that 
were  usual,  under  the  name  "Planctus  Marise"  ("The  Sorrows  of 


THE  ORATORIO. 

Mary"),  during  the  13tb  and  14th  centuries.  Here  the  metre  of 
the  poems  proves  that  they  were  sung  —  not  to  a  church-chant, 
but  —  to  a  melody  of  master-song,  of  a  character  about  midway 
between  the  lightness  of  the  folk-song  and  the  gravity  of  the 
plain-chant.  The  religious  drama  made  still  farther  advances  in 
this  direction,  after  the  clergy,  in  order  to  turn  the  public  favor 
from  the  very  low  secular  plays  to  something  higher,  had  brought 
forward  the  laity  also  to  participate  in  it.  In  consequence  of  this 
societies  were  formed  from  among  them  for  the  purpose  of  get- 
ting up  representations  of  this  kind,  —  as  for  instance,  in  1339 
at  Paris,  the  Confrerie  de  la  Passion,  to  whom  the  king  granted 
*  theatre,  called  la  Trinite"",  for  their  own  special  use.  In  time, 
however,  the  cooperation  of  the  laity,  to  whom  the  strolling  mu- 
sicians also  united  themselves,  gave  the  sacred  plays  a  secular, 
burlesque,  even  immoral  stamp,  and  the  music,  which  in  the  low- 
comic  episodes  connected  with  sacred  history  took  the  place  of 
the  acccntus  eccletiastictis ,*  was,  in  order  to  agree  with  the 
situation,  not  permitted  to  rise  above  the  folk-songs  that  were 
most  popular  as  bordering  on  the  street-songs,  as  for  instance 
when  JUDAS  is  haggling  about  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  or 
when  the  ointment-vender  is  offering  his  wares  to  the  women 
hastening  to  the  Saviour's  tomb,  cracking  the  while  all  kinds  of 
coarse  jokes. 

Still  greater  was  the  disorder  connected  with  the  so-called 
"Ass's  festivals"  and  "Fools'  festivals",  celebrated  up  to  the  end 
of  the  Middle  Age  in  some  countries,  chiefly  in  France.  In  the 
former  festival,  which  was  celebrated  in  memory  of  the  flight  of 
the  holy  family  into  Egypt,  an  ass  covered  with  a  monk's  cowl 
was  led  through  the  streets  into  the  church,  the  priest  at  the 
altar  intoned  the  so-called  ass's  chant,  and  for  a  refrain  imitated 
the  ass's  braying,  whereupon  the  congregation  dancing  round  the 
animal,  responded  antiphonally.  The  "Fools'  festival",  or  "All 
Fools'  day",  was  kept  at  the  winter-solstice,  in  remembrance  of 
the  ancient  Roman  Saturnalia  with  their  temporary  emancipation 
of  slaves;  a  fool-bishop  was  chosen  to  celebrate  mass,  while  the 
rest  of  the  clergy  and  the  people,  disguised  as  wild  beasts  —  • 


*  The  manner,  half-way  between  ringing  and  declamation,  of  intoning 
the  prayers,  epistles  and  gospels,  lessons,  etc.  in  the  church-service. 


106  THE  ORATORIO. 

reminiscence  of  the  combats  of  beasts  in  the  Roman  circus  — 
dealt  blows  right  and  left  in  the  church  and  committed  the 
grossest  excesses.  Just  so  little  as  all  these  spectacles  can  the 
representations  of  Death  in  processions,  which  sprang  up  at  the 
same  time,  lay  claim  to  artistic  significance.  These  descend  from 
an  old  traditional  play  on  the  feast  of  the  seven  Maccabean 
brothers  —  whence  also  the  name  "Chorea  Maccabeorum"  (Dance 
of  the  Maccabees),  afterwards  in  France  "danse  macabre",  —  and 
enjoyed  great  popularity,  as  is  attested  by  the  manifold  pictorial 
representations  of  the  "Dance  of  Death"  by  the  painters  of  the 
Middle  Age. 

For  lack  of  the  necessary  means  the  popular  drama  was 
unable  to  expand,  either  towards  the  sacred  or  the  secular  side, 
into  a  higher  art-species ;  it  sank  deeper  and  deeper,  until  in  the 
17th  century  it  utterly  disappeared.  The  last  trace  of  it  may  be 
found  in  the  Passion-play  which  is  still  performed  every  ten  years 
at  Oberammergau  in  Bavaria,  and  which  in  view  of  the  fervor 
and  the  artistic  tact  of  the  cooperators,  as  also  of  the  part  taken  in 
it  by  the  thousands  of  spectators,  is  more  than  merely  historically 
interesting.  As  for  the  ecclesiastical  representations  of  sacred  history, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  had  continued  to  exist  side  by  side  with 
the  passion-plays  of  the  laity,  they  had  remained,  over  against 
the  grotesque  excrescences  of  the  latter,  true  to  their  liturgical 
character,  and  were  able,  especially  after  the  revival  of  church- 
song  through  the  Reformation,  to  attain  enhanced  musical  impor- 
tance. At  first  it  was  of  course  impossible  to  break  with  the  old 
music-forms;  during  the  entire  16th  century  the  evangelist  con- 
tinued to  recite  the  history  of  the  Saviour's  passion  in  the  accen- 
fus  ecclesiasticus .  the  words  of  Christ  were  sung  in  four-part  har- 
mony, as  though  to  divert  the  attention  from  his  real  personality 
and  allow  only  the  universal  validity  of  his  words  to  be  emphasized. 
Even  HEINRICH  SCHUTZ  with  whom  as  expert  and  friend  of  the 
dramatic  music  that  sprang  up  in  Italy  at  the  beginning  of  the 
17th  century  we  became  acquainted  in  the  preceding  section,  could 
not  find  exactly  new  forms  for  the  musical  celebration  of  Easter, 
but  could  put  a  new  spirit  in  the  old  ones,  as  a  nearer  view  of 
his  labors  will  show,  after  we  shall  have  first  taken  a  survey  of 
Italy's  efforts  in  this  domain. 

Italy,  the  fatherland  of  ecclesiastical  and  of  dramatic  music, 


THE  ORATORIO.  107 

is  the  birthplace,  as  of  the  opera,  so  also  of  the  Oratorio.  As 
early  as  in  the  course  of  the  16th  century  it  had  been  customary 
in  the  monasteries  there  to  establish  in  Lent  public  devotional 
exercises,  to  compensate  the  people  for  the  theatrical  plays  for- 
bidden during  the  penitential  season.  An  additional  attractiveness 
was  given  to  these  meetings  -  -  called,  after  the  prayer-hall 
(oratory)  in  which  they  were  held,  Congregazioni  del  oratorio  — 
when  the  Roman  priest  FILIPPO  NERI  came  upon  the  idea  of 
joining  to  his  explanations  of  scripture  sacred  choral  singing 
appropriate  to  them  and  calculated  to  illustrate  them.  At  first 
AXIMUCCIA,  predecessor  of  PALESTRINA  as  music-director  at  St. 
Peter's,  conducted  the  musical  part  of  the  service  and  also  com- 
posed for  it  a  kind  of  four-voiced  hymns  under  the  name  Laudi 
spiritual*,  in  which  occasionally  one  voice,  or  two  voices,  sustain- 
ing a  colloquy,  would  break  off  from  the  four-part  setting.  After 
ANIMUCCIA'S,  death  PALESTRINA  took  his  place  as  both  papal  music- 
director  and  musical  assistant  of  NERI;  under  his  direction  the 
colloquial  form  of  these  pieces  was  more  strongly  marked,  they 
were  grouped  in  scenes,  and  in  this  form  were  called  Azione  sacra 
sacred  action)  or  simply  Oratorio,  the  name  of  the  place  of  per- 
formance being  transferred  to  the  thing  itself.  -  -  By  the  side  of 
these  two  masters  stands  the  Spaniard  VITTORIA  (from  Avila  near 
Madrid,  1575  music-director  at  St.  Apollinaris'  church,  Rome),  who, 
with  many  of  his  countrymen,  at  their  head  MORALES  OF  SEVILLE, 
who  had  in  the  first  half  of  the  century  entered  the  papal  choir, 
found  in  Rome  the  sphere  of  artistic  activity  which  his  own 
country  was  unable  to  offer  him.  The  serious,  deeply  religious, 
somewhat  mystic  character  peculiar  to  the  works  of  these  com- 
posers educated  after  Netherlandic  patterns  yet  with  the  feelings 
of  genuine  Spaniards,  is  seen  in  VITTORIA,  especially  in  his  highly 
effective  four-voiced  choruses  of  the  people  (turbae)  in  the  Passion 
according  to  St.  Matthew's  gospel  and  that  according  to  St.  John's. 
These  choruses,  though  mere  ceremonial  pieces  for  the  ecclesias- 
tical ritual  and  accordingly  free  from  any  dramatic  intention,  may 
nevertheless  be  considered  as  preparatory  labors  for  the  later 
oratorio-chorus. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  musical  reform-movement 
begun  at  Florence  gave  artistic  taste  that  entirely  changed  ten- 
dency from  which,  as  its  direct  aim,  the  modern  opera  could  come 


108  THE  ORATORIO. 

into  existence,  and  it  was  natural  enough  that  the  church  also, 
tired  of  worn-out  formalism,  was  anxious  to  adopt  the  new  kinds 
of  style  that  had  been  gained  for  secular  music.  This  was  brought 
about  first  by  EMHJO-£«EL_  CAVALIERE  ,  until  1595  intendant  of 
music  to  the  ducal  court  of  Florence,  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
initial  attempts  at  reviving  the  ancient  Greek  music-drama,  yet 
had  not  then  found  anything  suitable  to  the  purpose.  If  in  con- 
sequence he  had  to  forego  the  fame  of  being  named  among  the 
founders  of  modern  opera,  he  secured,  in  compensation,  an  honor- 
able place  in  the  history  of  the  Oratorio.  For,  with  the  appear- 
ance of  his  sacred  allegorical  music-drama  La  rappresentazione  di 
anima  e  di  corpo*  (first  performed  in  the  year  1600  on  a  stage 
in  the  oratory  of  the  monastery  of  Santa  Maria  in  Vallicella  at 
Kome),  the  two  principal  species  of  vocal  and  instrumental  music 
connected  with  an  action  begin  to  develop  themselves  in  their 
peculiar  manner.  The  problem  of  the  opera  is  from  this  time 
forth  to  unite  music  and  poetry  with  an  action  visibly  represented 
on  the  stage;  the  oratorio,  on  the  other  hand,  aims  at  the  ad- 
justment of  ecclesiastical  and  secular  art  on  the  territory  of 
biblical  history,  and  if  it  likewise  at  first  admits  visible  action, 
yet  the  latter  retires  more  and  more  into  the  background,  until 
(from  HANDEL'S  time  onward)  the  action  is  represented  only 
in  music. 

A  cooperator  with  CAVALIERE  in  the  introduction  of  the  dra- 
matic style  into  church-music  was  LUDOVICO  VIADANA  (died  after 
1644  as  music-director  at  Mantua),  who  by  his  Concerti  da  chiesa, 
pieces  for  one  or  more  voices  with  an  organ-bass,  was  the  first 
to  naturalize  in  the  church  the  monody  newly  invented  by  CACCINI. 
Specially  worthy  of  note  in  these  "concerts"  is  the  appearance  of 
an  independent  obligatory  instrumental  bass,  the  basso  continuo, 
so-called  because,  unlike  the  vocal  bass,  it  makes  no  occasional 
pauses  but  gives  the  harmony  a  solid  foundation  throughout  the 
whole  piece.  For  this  reason  it  was  called  also  bassus  generulisf* 
whence  arose  later  the  error  of  ascribing  to  VIADANA  the  inven- 


*  The  name  "rappresentazione"  was,  like  "storia",  "esempio",  "misteric", 
a  common  designation  of  the  Italian  sacred  drama.  From  time  immemorial 
songs  were  mingled  with  these  representations,  mostly  final  choruses  after 
the  acts. 

**  The  English  equivalent  of  this  would  be  the  old-fashioned  expression 


THE  ORATORIO.  109 

tion  of  what  is  now  called  figured  bass,  t .  e.,  a  bass  with  certain 
figures  and  signatures  indicating  the  tones  necessary  to  the  com- 
pletion of  the  harmony.  This  latter  kind  of  bass  was  in  use  be- 
fore his  time,  and  occurs,  e.  g.t  in  PERI'S  opera  "Euridice",  which 
appeared  two  years  earlier  than  the  "concerti  da  chiesa".  —  But 
the  most  important  part  in  the  development  of  the  oratorio  as 
an  independent  art-species  was  taken  by  GIACOMO  CARISSIMI  (from 
1528  onward  music-director  at  St.  Apollinaris'  church  at  Rome), 
in  that  he  moulded  the  till  then  simply  song-like  cantata  into  a 
kind  of  dramatic  scene  with  recitative,  airs  and  choruses,  in  which 
form  it  bore  the  name  of  chamber-cantata.  Besides  numerous 
works  of  this  kind,  which  already  is  closely  related  to  the  later 
oratorio,  CARISSIMI  wrote  also  a  series  of  actual  oratorios,  among 
them  "Jephtha",  "The  Judgment  of  Solomon",  and  "Jonah",  which 
are  full  of  animated  dramatic  expression  and  especially  rich  in 
effective  dramatic  choruses  and  frequently  recall  HANDEL,  on 
whose  oratorios  they  exercised  an  influence  similar  to  that  which 
was  exercised  on  his  operas  by  those  of  ALESSANDRO  SCARLATTI. 
After  GARISSIMI'S  death  the  sacred  music-drama  in  Italy  was 
utterly  supplanted  by  the  chamber-cantata,  and  at  its  re-appear- 
ance a  century  later  it  was  seen  to  be  thoroughly  secularized  by 
the  spirit  and  the  style  of  the  opera.  In  the  domain  of  church-music 
proper  we  meet,  to  be  sure,  even  in  the  18th  century  a  number 
of  Italian  composers  in  whose  works  the  traditions  of  their  great 
predecessors  still  exert  a  powerful  influence.  Among  these  are 
the  Venetians  LOTTI  (died  in  1740  as  music-director  of  St.  Mark's), 
famous  through  his  eight-voiced  "Crucifixus";  CALDARA*  (died  at 
Vienna  in  173G),  whose  sixteen-voiced  "Crucifixus"  is  in  art-worth 
not  inferior  to  that  of  LOTTI  ;  BENEDETTO  MARCELLO,  a  Venetian 
nobleman  and  amateur,  who,  though  excelled  in  talent  by  the 
two  just  mentioned,  was  able  nevertheless  by  industry,  versatility 
and  intellectual  activity  to  gain  and  maintain  a  brilliant  position 
in  the  musical  world.  His  chief  work,  the  setting  of  fifty  Psalms 
of  David  in  an  Italian  version,  procured  him  great  fame  among 
his  contemporaries  even  outside  of  his  native  country.  J.  A.  HILLER, 
in  his  "WSchentlichen  Nachrichten"  (Leipsic,  1769)  calls  him  a 


"thorough-bass",   •.  i.,  bast  throughout  ("thorough"  here  having  its  original 
meaning).  Trarulator. 

*  See  ».  70. 


HO  THE   ORATORIO. 

man  "who  could  unite  the  entire  seriousness  of  the  old  music  with 
the  graces  and  the  beauties  of  the  new.  .  .  In  his  Psalms  he  is 
so  free  and  remote  from  all  that  is  low  or  common,  that  an  in- 
telligent hearer  is  kept  by  an  infinite  variety  of  new  and  beauti- 
ful modulations  in  continual  delight",  etc.  A  peculiarity  of  this 
work  of  MARCELLO  is  his  aim  at  antique  simplicity,  which  he 
sought  to  attain  by  the  use,  among  other  things,  of  Hebrew  ritual 
music,  communicated  to  him  by  Spanish  and  German  Jews.  But 
granting  that  he  was  right  in  his  opinion  that  these  melodies 
came  directly  from  the  ancient  Hebrew  temple-song,  still  he  only 
half  accomplished  his  artistic  purpose  by  his  treatment  of  them, 
because  in  him  (as  VON  DOMMER  observes)  the  admirer  and  imi- 
tator of  antiquity  and  the  cavalier  of  the  18th  century  come  in 
conflict.  His  antiquising*  remains  on  the  outside  and  attains  to 
no  intellectual  blossom;  the  pretended  antique  simplicity  forms 
a  contrast  to  the  language  of  modern  subjective  feeling  and 
passion  that  MARCELLO'S  striving  -  -  under  evident  influence  of 
the  opera  -  -  after  flexible,  flowing  song  is  by  no  means  calculated 
to  mitigate. 

With  incomparably  greater  care  than  in  Italy  were  the  Oratorio 
and  the  Passion  fostered  in  Germany,  where  the  most  fearful  of 
wars  had  annihilated  material  prosperity,  indeed,  yet  not  the  ideal 
intellectual  tendency.  The  very  activity  of  the  last  great  Nether- 
lander ORLANDUS  LASSUS,  or  ROLAND  DE  LATTRE,  as  music-direc- 
tor in  Munich  (where  he  died  in  1595),  among  whose  numerous 
master- works  the  seven  Penitential  Psalms,  attesting  deep,  tho- 
roughly German  feeling,  have  a  prominent  place,  points  to  Ger- 
many as  the  soil  best  adapted  for  the  growth  of  ecclesiastical 
music.  Immediately  after  him  appear  in  HANS  LEO  HASLER  (died 
in  1612)  and  JOHANNES  ECCARD  (died  1611)  two  artists  who, 
though  educated  in  foreign  schools  (the  former  in  that  of  GABRIELI 
at  Venice,  the  latter  in  that  of  ORLANDUS  LASSUS),  yet  may  be 
regarded  as  representatives  of  an  independent  German  tone- art, 
and  of  whom  the  latter  in  particular,  through  his  "Prussian  festival 
songs  for  the  whole  year"  —  an  intermediate  species  between 
motet  and  song,  yet  with  more  of  the  character  of  the  latter  — 
essentially  enriched  the  protestant  church-music.  HEINRICH  SCHUTZ 


"Antiquise",  to  imitate  the  antique.  Translator. 


THE   ORATORIO.  Ill 

also  (born  in  1585,  died  in  1672  as  music-director  at  Dresden), 
as  pupil  of  GABRIELI  utilized  the  inspiration  received  from  Italy 
only  for  making  his  German  depth  and  solidity  avail  to  its  whole 
extent,  when,  after  his  solitary  attempt  in  the  domain  of  the  opera 
(see  p.  93  ,  he  had  turned  his  whole  attention  to  church-music. 
The  oratorio  is  indebted  to  him  for  a  considerable  advance,  not- 
withstanding he  wrote  no  work  of  that  class  in  the  modern  sense ; 
for  his  "Resurrection",  and  "Seven  Words"  belong  in  character 
rather  to  the  species  of  Passion-music. 

In  the  first  of  these  works,  printed  in  1623  at  Dresden,  we 
still  see  a  decided  adherence  to  the  old  forms;  the  words  of  the 
title:  "The  Resurrection  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  described 
to  us  by  the  four  evangelists",  set  to  music  for  six  voices,  serve 
as  introduction;  the  words  of  the  acting  persons  are  likewise 
polyphonic,  according  to  custom ;  the  evangelist  recites  throughout 
according  to  the  accent  us  ecrfestasticvs ,  which  is  only  occasionally 
interrupted  by  characteristic  tone-progressions.  A  remarkable  turn, 
on  the  other  hand,  in  ScnOTz's  career  of  artistic  development 
is  seen  in  his  "Seven  Words",  published  in  1645,  in  which  the 
recitative  arioso  has  entirely  supplanted  the  accentus  ecclesia stints 
and  the  monologues  are  invariably  set  for  one  voice.  It  is  re- 
markable moreover  that  here  the  words  of  Jesus  are  not  accom- 
panied (as  are  those  of  the  other  personages)  by  the  organ,  but 
by  stringed  instruments,  which,  played  in  a  high  register,  surround 
the  voice  as  it  were  with  a  halo,  a  kind  of  accompaniment  which, 
as  is  well  known,  has  been  applied  in  BACH'S  Matthew-Passion 
as  also  in  later  compositions  of  the  same  kind.  Worthy  of  notice, 
moreover,  is  also  the  peculiar  grouping  of  the  material,  already* 
foreshadowing  the  future  formation  of  the  Passion-text:  on  the 
one  hand  the  gospel  history  itself,  clad,  as  action,  in  dramatic 
form,  on  the  other  hand  the  Christian  church,  framing  the  pro- 
ceedings with  its  feelings  and  reflexions  in  a  broadly  executed 
five-voiced  introductory  and  final  chorus.  The  peculiarly  character- 
istic element  of  the  Oratorio,  the  dramatically  animated  chorus, 
is  not  found  either  in  the  "Resurrection"  nor  in  the  "Seven  Words", 
but  occurs  in  ScnOTZ's  last  work,  the  "Four  Passion*  according  to 
the  four  Etangclisd?  (1666),  in  which  the  dramatic  feature  operates 
the  more  powerfully  in  the  choruses  of  the  people  for  the  reason 
that  the  aged  master  has,  in  regard  of  the  shaping  of  the  whole, 


1  I  2  THE  ORATORIO. 

returned  to  the  older  forms,  the  accentus  ecclesiasticus ,  the  poly- 
phonic treatment  of  the  monologue,  etc.  In  those  choruses,  how- 
ever, that  ask,  now  timidly,  "Lord,  is  it  If  now  angrily,  "Lord, 
shall  we  smite  with  the  sword?"  now  cry  in  mockery,  "Hail!  King 
of  the  Jews",  we  see  everywhere  the  effort  not  merely  to  accom- 
modate the  sense  of  the  words  to  the  sentiment  but  to  represent 
it  as  action,  and  in  this  sense  SCHUTZ  has  more  decidedly  than 
CARISSIMI  prepared  the  way  for  the  HANDEL  oratorio. 

A  long  time  had  to  elapse  after  SCHUTZ'S  death  before  the 
discovery  of  forms  for  the  Oratorio  and  the  Passion  by  whose 
aid  HANDEL  and  BACH  could  bring  these  art-species  to  the  highest 
perfection.  As  regards  the  "Passion",  we  would  cite,  as  farther 
noteworthy  moments  in  its  course  of  development:  first,  the 
appearance  of  a  Passion-work  by  the  Prussian  music-director  SE- 
BASTIANI  (1672),  in  which  the  protestant  choral  is  interwoven  into 
the  musical  representation  of  the  passion  at  appropriate  places 
conditionated  by  the  sacred  text.  Next,  the  endeavors  of  the 
Hamburg  librettists  (see  the  preceding  section)  to  reconcile  the 
inclinations  of  the  musical  public  with  the  demands  of  the  orthodox 
clergy.  To  meet  the  opposition  of  the  latter  to  the  libretti  then 
in  favor,  which  were  in  form  operatic  and  utterly  unlike  the  old 
passion-forms,  the  licentiate  BROCKES  produced  at  the  beginning 
of  the  18th  century  a  passion-text  that  was,  to  be  sure,  designed 
like  the  previous  ones,  yet  in  skilful  grouping  and  dramatic  fer- 
vor so  far  surpassed  them  that  it  was  admired  by  contemporaries 
as  a  master-work  and  was  set  to  music  by  the  most  eminent  com- 
posers of  Hamburg,  viz :  REISER,  MATTHESON  and  TELEMANN,  and 
even  by  HANDEL  (1716). 

For  the  development  of  the  "Passion"  as  art-species  the  text 
of  BROCKES  is  of  importance,  because  in  it  we  find  for  the  first 
time  the  three  chief  groups  that  afterwards  appear  in  the  BACH 
Passion:  with  the  scenes  out  of  the  gospel  history  of  CHRIST'S 
sufferings  are  confronted  the  reflections  and  pathetic  utterances  of 
two  allegorical  personages,  the  "daughter  of  Sion"  and  the  "be- 
lieving soul",  representing  an  assembly  (the  so-called  "invisible 
church")  accompanying  in  thought  and  explaining  the  actions  and 
sufferings  of  CHRIST  on  earth:  finally  the  protestant  church  and 
congregation  also  is  represented  by  chorals,  which,  as  with 


THE  ORATORIO.  H3 

SEBASTIANT,  are  at  appropriate  places  connected  by  manifold  allu- 
sions with  the  action. 


GEORG~TKIEDRICH  HANDEL  and  JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH  are 
the  two  artists  whose  memory  should  be  doubly  precious  for  the 
reason  that  their  aim  was  directed  at  the  realization  of  the  highest 
iirt-ideals  at  a  time  when  the  older  civilized  nations  -  -  Italians 
and  Frenchmen  —  applied  themselves,  at  the  cost  of  artistic 
seriousness,  more  and  more  to  the  cultivation  of  external  effective- 
ness. We  like  therefore  to  mention  especially  their  names  in  con- 
nexion, although  they  are  seen  to  be,  in  their  artistic  nature  as 
in  their  life-experiences,  as  different  one  from  the  other  as  possible. 
Both  born  in  Thuringia  and  in  the  same  year  (HANDEL  on  Feb. 
23d  at  Halle,  BACH  on  the  21st  of  March  at  Eisenach),  they  develop 
themselves  each  in  a  particular  direction,  almost  the  opposite  of 
the  other.  BACH  was  impelled  by  his  nature  to  plunge  into  the 
depths  of  religious  feeling,  to  penetrate  into  the  innermost  mys- 
teries of  religion,  and  this  in  conjunction  with  Pietism,  the  new 
theory  of  church-life  introduced  by  SPENER  in  1675,  according 
to  which,  in  opposition  to  orthodoxy,  not  the  words  of  Scripture 
or  the  sermon,  but  the  personal  interior  enlightenment  helps  us 
to  acquire  divine  knowledge.*  He  is,  accordingly,  before  every- 
thing else  lyric  (see  p.  11),  in  his  whole  manner  of  construction 
and  of  feeling  subjective,  almost  romantic,  hence,  too,  more  at 
home  in  instrumental  than  in  vocal  music.  HANDEL,  on  the  other 
hand,  finds  his  point  d'appui  in  the  outer  world;  the  drama  is 


•  Pmurp  SPITTA,  in  his  monograph  "Ueber  SEBASTIAN  BACH"  (Lcipsic, 
1879),  advocates  the  contrary  opinion  in  regard  of  BACH,  and  substantiates 
it  by  showing  that  the  general  tendency  of  Pietism  was  inimical  to  art,  more- 
over, by  pointing  to  the  fact  that  BACH,  as  organist  at  Nordhausen  (1707), 
was,  in  the  dispute  of  the  theologians  of  that  place,  EILMAR  and  FROHNE, 
on  the  side  of  the  former,  representing  orthodoxy.  Now,  in  this  case  no  im- 
portance is  to  be  attached  to  BACH'S  action,  since  he  could,  as  artist  and 
youth  of  twenty-two  years,  hardly  have  been  influenced  by  any  other  than 
personal  considerations.  But  that  he  should,  with  his  marked  idealistic  and 
subjective  nature,  in  riper  years  decide  in  favor  of  Pietism,  follows  from  the 
very  essence  of  this  system,  as  it  was  not  only  far  removed  from  Puritanical 
narrowness  but  in  the  main  aspired  to  a  warmer,  more  spiritual  and  freer 
appropriation  of  holy  things,  and  precisely  then  concentrated  in  itself  all  of 
idealism  and  higher  thought  and  feeling  that  was  still  alive  in  the  German 
nation. 


114  THE  ORATORIO. 

the  art-species  most  nearly  corresponding  to  his  nature,  conse- 
quently his  art-conception  is  an  objective,  and  in  opposition  to 
BACH'S  modern  one,  an  antique  one.  As  history  is  the  domain 
in  which  by  preference  he  moves,  so  too  it  is  bible  history  in 
which  his  religious  convictions  take  root ;  but  as  regards  application 
of  tone  material  he  is  first  of  all  vocal  composer.  BACH'S  existence 
flowed  quietly  as  to  externals,  he  never  left  his  native  country 
and  was  seldom  absent  from  Leipsic,  where  he  labored  as  canter 
at  the  St.  Thomas'  school  from  1723  until  his  death,  and  a 
journey  to  Dresden  or  to  Berlin  was  to  him  an  event.  His  choir 
and  the  organ  of  St.  Thomas'  church  became  his  home,  and  while 
HANDEL  extends  under  the  influence  of  three  nations  the  borders 
of  his  nationality,  BACH,  even  if  he  does  occasionally  follow  in 
his  instrumental  compositions  French  or  Italian  models,  remains 
within  the  narrowest  limits  of  national  feeling.  Thus  the  two 
heroes  of  German  music  also  represent  the  double  nature  of  the 
German  people,  viz:  the  devotion  to  what  is  foreign  and  the  ex- 
clusiveness  against  it.  Bat  that  neither  the  one  nor  the  other 
was  for  a  moment  untrue  to  his  German  nature,  is  seen  both  in 
the  character  of  their  works  and  in  the  restless  exertion  and  the 
never-flagging  love  of  work  which,  even  in  their  latest  years  (after 
both  had  become  blind)  up  to  their  death  —  BACH  died  1750, 
HANDEL  1759  —  never  forsook  them. 

Influential  as  BACH'S  creative  activity  was  in  the  most  diverse 
departments  of  music,  particularly  upon  the  development  of  organ- 
playing  and  pianoforte-playing,  yet  it  reaches  its  climax  in  the 
"Passion".  True,  he  did  not  create  new  forms  for  this  art-species, 
nor  did  he  attempt  to  find  them;  his  merit  is  that  he  brought 
the  traditional  forms  to  the  last  possible  perfection  and  filled 
them  with  matter  corresponding  to  his  musical  giant-spirit.  Accord- 
ing to  FORKEL*  he  wrote  five  "Passion"  settings,  of  which  how- 
ever but  two  —  those  according  to  the  Gospels  of  St.  John  and 
St.  Matthew  —  were  made  public.  The  St.  John  Passion,  the 
time  of  whose  origin  is  unknown,  exhibits  in  its  forms  the  older 
pattern  and  in  it  we  miss  generally  the  dramatic  impressiveness 
that  so  brilliantly  stands  out  in  BACH'S  later  works.  It  is  in  the 


*  J.  N.  FORKEL,  "Of  JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH'S  life,  art  and  art-works". 
Vipsic,  1802. 


THE  ORATORIO.  115 

St.  Matthew  Passion,  first  performed  in  1729,  that  lie  appears  to 
have  at  last  fully  recognized  the  greatness  of  his  mission.  Here 
is  displayed  his  entire  artistic  ability :  the  skilful  treatment  of  the 
protestant  choral,  the  unlimited  mastery  of  the  fugue  style,  in 
which  point  even  HANDEL  has  not  equalled  him,  finally  his  know- 
ledge of  the  orchestral  instruments,  which  he  frequently  uses, 
according  to  their  individual  quality,  by  themselves  alone,  as 
obligate  accompanists  of  a  solo  voice.  The  St.  Matthew  Passion 
is  of  art-historical  importance  in  regard  also  of  the  text,  inasmuch 
as  BACH,  while  he  had  in  the  St.  John  Passion  made  use  of  parts 
of  BROCKE'S  poem,  here  restored  the  text  of  the  passion-history 
literally  according  to  the  gospel,  hence  too  the  accompanying 
reflections  of  the  Christian  congregation  and  of  the  invisible  church 
were  introduced  in  greater  moderation  than  before. 

If  now  we  confront  with  the  Passion,  so  highly  perfected 
by  BACH,  the  Oratorio  as  art-species,  the  comparison  must  still 
turn  out  in  favor  of  the  latter,  because  in  the  former  we  find 
two  —  strictly  speaking  —  reciprocally  exclusive  properties  exter- 
nally united,  viz:  the  churchly  in  its  purity  and  freedom  from 
passion,  and  the  dramatic  with  its  powerful  expression  of  the 
emotions,  while  in  the  oratorio  the  churchly  and  the  secular  dra- 
matic elements  are  blended  as  a  unit  into  a  new  species  of  art 
and  style.  This  unity  of  style  and  form,  which  for  the  reason 
just  given  cannot  exist  in  the  Passion,  the  oratorio  owes  to  HAN- 
DEL'S activity  in  England,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  it  exclu- 
sively and  with  his  whole  power,  after  having  thoroughly  gone 
through  the  school  of  opera  in  Hamburg,  Italy,  as  music-director 
in  Hanover  and  finally  in  London.  It  is  highly  creditable  to 
England  from  a  musical  point  of  view  to  have  brought  to  matu- 
rity on,  her  soil  one  of  the  noblest  and  most  important  species  of 
composition:  for  though  her  own  children  lacked  the  power 
necessary  for  this,  yet  the  success  of  such  an  art-exploit  pre- 
supposes a  considerable  sum  of  artistic  labor  and  artistic  feeling, 
of  whose  existence,  moreover,  the  earlier  music-history  of  England 
gives  ample  evidence. 

The  prominent  musical  position  of  England  in  the  Middle 
Age  already  sufficiently  shows  that  not  lack  of  musical  talent  but 
outward  circumstances  are  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  lack  of 
independence  of  English  music  during  the  last  two  centuries.  At 


116  THE  ORATORIO. 

that  time  England  appears  to  be,  as  regards  the  cultivation  of 
music,  especially  of  organ-playing,  by  no  means  behind  the  other 
nations  of  the  West;  and  the  lively  part  that  she  afterwards  took 
in  the  development  of  counterpoint  is  mentioned  by  the  famous 
Netherlandic  theorist  TINCTORIS  (about  1476  chief  music-director 
to  FERDINAND  I.  at  Naples,  author  of  the  oldest  musical  lexicon, 
which  appeared  about  the  same  time  under  the  title  "Terminorum 
musicaB  diffinitorium").  This  author  goes  so  far  as  to  maintain 
"that  the  fount  and  origin  of  this  new  art  is  to  be  found  in 
England,  where  DUNSTABLE  (died  about  1450)  is  conspicuous  as 
its  head".  We  will  not  attempt  to  test  the  correctness  of  this 
assertion,  seeing  that  the  artistic  legacy  of  the  above-named 
contrapuntist  is  at  this  day  as  good  as  unknown.  Yet  the  fact 
speaks  in  its  favor  that  the  English  singers  and  composers  during 
the  palmy  days  of  Netherlandic  counterpoint  were  everywhere  and 
even  in  the  home  of  the  latter  held  in  favor  and  sought  for.  But 
English  music  attained  to  the  zenith  of  its  development  during 
the  reign  of  QUEEN  ELIZABETH,  after  the  renascence-movement, 
originated  in  Italy,  had  given  to  the  intellectual  life  of  the  island- 
kingdom  also  that  impulse  which  was  able  to  bring  forth  in  the 
domain  of  poetry  a  SHAKESPEARE  (1564 — 1616).  At  the  same  time 
with  him  appear  as  representatives  of  the  sister-art  a  number  of 
highly  gifted  composers  and  virtuosos,  who  must  have  been  all 
the  more  impelled  to  activity  as  the  queen  herself  gave  the 
example,  and  showed  her  appreciation  of  music  not  only  as  expert 
performer  on  the  virginal  but  also  as  protectress  of  church-music 
against  the  fanatical  attacks  of  the  Puritans.  After  her  example 
the  cultivation  of  solid  music  became  so  general  that  it  was  re- 
garded as  a  sign  of  defective  education  if  one  should  —  for 
example  —  be  unable  to  join,  in  an  assembly,  in  the  improvised 
execution  of  a  piece  of  polyphonic  vocal  music.  To  judge  from 
a  passage  from  SHAKESPEARE'S  "Twelfth  night",  the  partiality  to 
contrapuntal  singing  seems  to  have  been  carried  even  to  excess. 
"But  shall  we  make  the  welkin  dance  indeed?  Shall  we  rouse 
the  night-owl  in  a  catch,  that  will  draw  three  souls  out  of  one 
weaver?"  asks  Sir  TOBY  BELCH.  And  Sir  ANDREW  AGUE-CHEEK 
answers-  "An  you  love  me,  lefs  do  it;  I  am  dog  at  a  catch"! 
Nevertheless  the  possible  abuses  cannot  in  any  wise  dim  the 
splendor  of  this  golden  age  of  English  music,  nor  the  fame  of  its 


THE  ORATORIO.  U7 

chief  representatives  WILLIAM  BYRD  (from  1585  organist  to  the 
queen,  in  his  time  regarded  as  the  English  PALESTRINA),  his  pupil 
THOMAS  MORLEY  (editor  of  a  valuable  collection  of  madrigals, 
including  many  of  his  own  composition,  published  in  1601  under 
the  title  The  triumphs  of  Oriana"),  ORLANDO  GIBBONS  (noted  or- 
ganist, editor  of  the  first  music  for  the  virginal  printed  in  En- 
gland), and  the  much-praised  lute-virtuoso  JOHN  DOWLAND,  of 
whose  playing  SHAKESPEARE  says,  in  his  "Passionate  Pilgrim", 
T)OWLAND  .  .  .  whose  heavenly  touch  upt  n  the  lute  doth  ravish 
human  sense". 

In  the  farther  course  of  the  17th  centory  the  progress  of 
England's  intellectual  development  was  interrujkul  by  the  wars 
from  which  at  the  end  a  new  form  of  government  resulted.  But 
after  the  restoration  of  internal  order  the  nation  was  so  busied 
with  the  care  of  material  interests,  and,  after  the  destruction  (in 
1588)  of  the  invincible  Spanish  Armada  had  laid  the  foundation 
of  naval  supremacy,  with  the  strengthening  ot  its  position  as  a 
Power,  that  the  ideal  pursuits  retired  into  the  background  and, 
as  for  music,  the  field  was  most  willingly  abandoned  to  foreign 
talent.  The  hospitable  reception  of  CAMBERT  in  London  (see 
p.  77,  79),  as  of  the  Italians  who  appeared  before  him,  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  eclectic  tendency  that  musical  England  then  inau- 
gurated and  has  ever  since  followed.  Even  the  most  gifted  of  all 
English  composers,  the  genial  HENRY  PURCELL,  was  unable  to 
inspire  anew  confidence  in  the  production  of  national  music, 
and  neither  his  numerous  profound  and  magnificent  church-com- 
positions —  among  which  the  Anthems  are  specially  noticeable 
— ,  nor  his  dramatic  compositions,  which  are  thirty-nine  in  number 
and  as  genuine  home-products  were  well  calculated  to  form  the 
basis  of  a  national  English  opera,  were  able  in  those  unfavorable 
times  to  produce  any  lasting  effect.  "At  such  a  time",  says 
CHRYSANDER  (HANDEL,  vol.  I)  wa  rigid  disciplinarian  is  needed", 
—  but  such  was  PURCELL  as  little  as  MOZART  was.  For,  earnestly 
as  they  pursued  art,  they  took  life  just  as  easily  and  died  early. 
But  what  PURCELL  points  to  and  desires  is  accomplished  in 
HANDEL'S  life,  and  by  the  musical  healthfulness  of  all  his  works 
and  their  unity  of  structure,  as  also  by  the  versatility  of  his 
genius,  he  is  that  fore-runner  of  HANDEL  that  most  directly  leads 
to  him. 


118  THE  ORATORIO. 

A  quarter  of  a  century  after  PURCELL'S  early  death,  begin, 
with  HANDEL'S  arrival  in  London,  which  from  1720  till  his  death 
was  the  scene  of  his  labors,  the  golden  days  of  the  latter  master, 
dating  in  fact  from  his  engagement  at  the  Italian  opera  at  the 
Haymarket  Theatre.  The  subversion  of  social  relationships  that 
had  taken  place  in  England  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  had 
made  it  possible  for  opera  to  withdraw  at  this  very  time  from  the 
circles  of  the  court  and  the  nobility,  and  to  look  for  support  to 
the  public,  which  had  meanwhile  artistically  ripened.  Under  these 
circumstances  HANDEL  found  during  the  twenty  years  of  his  theatre- 
life  the  best  opportunity  for  learning  to  keep  in  view  the  art- 
necessities  of  the  general  public.  But  he  had,  on  the  other  hand, 
also  much  to  suffer  from  the  disadvantages  that  the  changed  state 
of  things  brought  with  it  for  the  artist-world.  Aristocratic  society, 
finding  itself  deprived  of  the  sole  direction  in  musical  affairs,  be- 
gan to  withdraw  from  the  artists  the  material  assistance  formerly 
so  generously  bestowed,  and  HANDEL  was  not  the  man  to  make 
concessions  in  the  matter  of  musical  taste  in  order  to  turn  the 
sentiments  of  the  former  art-patrons  to  his  own  advantage.  Besides 
this,  his  duties  as  opera-director  were  rendered  burdensome  by 
the  constantly  increasing  rivalry,  especially  after  a  second  Italian 
opera-troupe,  engaged  by  his  enemies  and  directed  by  the  Neapol- 
itan PORPOEA,  had  forced  him  to  change  the  Haymarket  for  the 
Covent-garden  theatre;  none  the  less,  too,  by  the  petty  jealousies 
of  the  male  and  female  singers  under  his  direction  (see  p.  71); 
so  that  in  the  year  1740,  after  the  performance  of  his  thirty-first 
opera  "Deidamia",  he  gave  up  the  theatre  for  good,  after  having 
lost  through  his  last  venture  the  whole  of  his  painfully  acquired 
fortune. 

Meanwhile,  however,  his  first  oratorio  "Esther"  had  in  1732 
already  been  performed  and  received  with  hearty  applause  by  that 
part  of  the  London  amateurs  represented  by  the  Academy  of  an- 
cient music,  who  saw  in  HANDEL'S  work  a  realization  of  their 
plans  for  reviving  the  antique  tragedy  in  the  territory  of  biblical 
history.  At  that  time  opinions  were  divided,  whether  the  oratorio 
should  be  given  with  acting  or  should  entirely  dispense  with  vis- 
ible dramatic  accessories.  The  bishop  of  London,  Dr.  GIBSON, 
decided  in  favor  of  the  latter  —  to  the  no  small  advantage  of 
HANDEL  as  musician,  for  now  he  could  enjoy  incomparably  greater 


Tilt  ORATORIO. 

freedom  in  his  creative  work  than  under  the  constraint  invariably 
suffered  by  the  composer  from  the  conditions  of  scenic  represen- 
tation. It  is  self-evident  that  dramatic  music,  when  no  longer 
supported  by  visible  representation,  is  all  the  more  required  to 
give  to  all  its  forms  the  highest  possible  plasticity,  sharpness  and 
clearness,  in  order  that  the  whole  art- work  may  gain  for  our 
imagination  and  our  feeling  the  semblance  of  perfect  life  and 
immediate  presence,  so  that  the  absence  of  visible  representation 
no  longer  impresses  us  as  a  defect.  This  applies  both  to  the 
solo  vocal  parts  and  in  a  special  manner  to  the  choruses;  indeed, 
the  chorus,  this  weighty  form  for  expressing  popular  and  human- 
itarian ideas  and  feelings,  may  justly  be  considered  as  the  centre 
of  gravity  of  the  HANDEL  oratorio.  In  it  lies,  just  as  in  the 
chorus  of  the  Greek  tragedy,  the  sum  of  the  moral  and  religious 
ideas  of  the  work;  it  is  the  floor  on  which  the  individual  persona 
move,  practically  confirming  or  contradicting  those  ideas  in  action 
and  sentiment,  subject  to  it  as  to  the  voice  of  the  people  and  of 
God,  and  to  its  judicial  authority  and  final  sentence.  In  the 
oratorio-chorus  the  high  significance  of  the  Greek  chorus  has 
been  far  more  fully  realized  than  it  ever  can  be  in  the  opera- 
chorus."* 

Such  are  the  essential  characteristics  of  the  oratorio,  into 
which  a  more  detailed  examination  is  unnecessary  from  the  fact 
that  this  art-species  in  the  form  given  it  by  HANDEL  has  been 
popularized  and  by  frequent  repetition  been  made  accessible  to 
all.**  Former  generations  were  in  this  regard  not  so  fortunate, 
both  HANDEL  and  BACH  were  soon  after  their  death  almost  for- 
gotten ;  the  style  of  the  Italian  opera  had  about  this  time  extended 
its  dominion  over  church-music  also,  and  its  chief  representatives 


•  See  KOCH'S  Musical  Lexicon,   edited  by  A.   VON  DOMMER,   article 
"Oratorio". 

**  This  remark  is  especially  true  of  that  oratorio  of  HANDEI/R  which, 
from  the  very  nature  of  its  subject,  appeals  most  strongly  to  the  religioua 
sensibilities  of  the  multitude  of  protestant  believers  —  the  "Messiah",  composed 
in  1 74 1 ,  in  the  short  space  of  24  days.  "No  musical  work",  says  a  writer  in  GROVE'S 
Dictionary  of  Music  —  "has  had  such  long,  continuous,  and  enduring  pop- 
ularity as  the  Messiah,  nor  has  any  other  so  materially  aided  the  cause  of 
charity.  Much  of  the  veneration  with  which  it  ia  regarded  is,  doubtless,  owing 
to  the  subject,  but  much  also  must  be  attributed  to  the  splendid  music,  son* 
of  which is  'not  for  an  age,  but  for  all  time'."  (TratulatorJ 


120  THE  ORATORIO. 

in  Germany,  GEAUN  and  HASSE,  were  praised  as  excellent  models 
when  BACH  and  HANDEL  were  mentioned,  if  at  all,  only  as  learned 
contrapuntists.  Even  MOZART  became  acquainted  only  by  accident 
and  in  his  later  years  with  BACH'S  vocal  compositions,  on  the 
occasion  of  a  visit  to  Leipsic,  where  his  friend  DOLES,  BACH'S 
second  successor  as  cantor  at  St.  Thomas'  church,  had  a  motet 
of  the  old  master  sung  for  him  as  a  rarity.  It  was  only  by  the 
exertions  of  SCHEIBLE,  founder  oi  the  St.  Cecilia  society  at  Frank- 
fort, and  of  MENDELSSOHN,  that  an  interest  for  BACH  and  HANDEL 
was,  after  a  slumber  of  many  generations,  successfully  re-awak- 
ened. The  energy  with  which  MENDELSSOHN,  as  youth  of  nine- 
teen years,  brought  about  the  first  performance  of  the  revival  of 
BACH'S  "Matthew-Passion"  (Berlin,  1829),  and  the  obstacles  he 
had  to  overcome  in  so  doing,  are  related  at  length  by  EDUARD 
DEVRIENT  in  his  "Remembrances  of  MENDELSSOHN"  ("Erinnerungen 
an  F.  MENDELSSOHN  BARTHOLDY").  In  a  similar  way  MENDELS- 
SOHN contributed,  as  director  of  the  Lower-Rhine  music-festivals, 
to  the  revival  of  the  HANDEL  oratorio.  His  loving  reverence  for 
these  two  masters  was  not,  however,  to  go  unrewarded,  for  it  was 
their  spirit  that  impelled  him  to  the  creation  of  his  own  most 
important  works,  the  oratorios  "St.  Paul"  and  "Elijah".* 

The  MSt.  Paul"  was  begun  in  March,  1834,  and  finished  at 
the  beginning  of  1836.  It  was  first  performed  at  Dusseldorf  on 
Whitsunday,  May  22,  1836;  and  in  English,  at  Liverpool  on 
Oct.  3  following.  The  "Elijah"  was  begun  probably  in  1838  (the 
score  has  no  dates),  and  had  its  first  performance  in  England,  at 
the  Birmingham  Festival,  Aug.  26,  1846,  and  in  Germany,  at 
Hamburg  in  October,  1847,  under  the  direction  of  KREBS.** 


*  What  follows  of  this  section  has  been  substituted  for  the  few  closing 
words  of  the  original,  as  being  (it  was  thought)  -of  more  general  interest. 

Translator. 

**  These  two  oratorios  have  repeatedly  heen  performed  in  the  United 
States,  notably  in  New  York,  Boston  and  Cincinnati.  The  translator  of  this 
work  has  a  vivid  recollection  of  a  scene  connected  with  the  introduction  of 
"Elijah"  into  New  York  city,  probably  about  the  winter  of  1846.  The  members 
of  a  vocal  society  directed  by  GEORGE  LODER  (a  native  of  Bath,  England, 
and  an  excellent  musician,  who  went  from  New  York  to  California,  where  he 
died),  were  assembled  one  evening  at  their  regular  place  of  meeting,  the  Apollo 
Rooms,  Broadway,  in  momentary  expectation  of  the  arrival  of  Mr.  LODER  with 
the  pianoforte  and  vocal  score  of  the  '^Elijah",  of  which  we  had  heard  so  much. 


THE  ORATORIO.  121 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  after  writing  "St.  Paul",  MEXDKLS- 
SOHN  had  the  advantage,  in  the  composition  of  "Elijah",  of  having, 
meanwhile,  passed  ten  of  the  best  years  of  his  life  in  indefatigable 
work  and  the  accumulation  of  a  vast  amount  of  experience,  ''yet 
it  cannot  be  said"  -  says  a  writer  in  GROVE'S  Dictionary,  under 
the  title  "Oratorio"  -  "that  'Elijah'  is  really  a  greater  work  than 
'St.  Paul';  it  is  great  in  a  different  way.  In  one  respect  the  main 
idea  is  the  same  as  that  treated  in  'St.  Paul'  —  the  triumph  of 
Truth  over  Falsehood.  In  both  Oratorios  the  instrument  by  which 
this  triumph  is  accomplished  is  a  Heaven-commissioned  Teacher, 
whose  influence  is  distinctly  perceptible  throughout  the  entire 
work;  only,  in  'Elijah',  the  personality  of  this  Teacher  is  more 
frequently  brought  before  us  than  in  'St.  Paul',  where  we  are  so 
frequently  made  to  feel  his  influence  without  actually  seeing  him. 
As  a  natural  consequence,  the  later  Oratorio  is  much  more  dra- 
matic in  structure  than  the  earlier  one." 


At  last  Mr.  LODER  appeared,  in  a  state  of  delighted  excitement  and  bearing 
the  precious  novelty,  and  seating  himself  at  the  piano  gave  us  what  I  may 
call  glimpses  of  the  principal  numbers  of  the  work,  which,  though  they  were 
necessarily  imperfect,  created  the  greatest  enthusiasm  for  the  new  oratorio, 
all  the  more  as  MENDELSSOHN'S  star  was  then  in  the  ascendant. 

(TrantlatorJ 


X. 

INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC. 


It  ia  only  cursorily  that  we  have  been  able  thus  far  to  pay 
attention  to  instrumental  music,  and  to  call  to  mind  its  import- 
ance for  musical  development  in  general,  especially  for  the  culti- 
vation of  polyphonic  music  (see  p.  27)  and  of  modern  opera  (see 
p.  66).  But  after  we  have  seen  instrumental  music  grow  up  to 
be  a  co-ordinate  power  with  vocal  music,  the  time  has  come  for 
making  its  evolutionary  course  also  the  subject  of  special  con- 
sideration. In  antiquity  it  is  certainly  not  behind  vocal  music,  at 
all  events  its  origin  reaches  far  beyond  historic  times.  The  in- 
vention of  musical  instruments  resulted  from  the  simplest  of 
natural  circumstances:  the  sun-dried  intestines  of  a  dead  animal 
stretched  across  the  skeleton  occasioned  the  invention  of  string- 
instruments*  a  broken  reed,  through  which  the  wind  breathed, 
that  of  tctnd-imtrumenfs.  How  these  two  principal  species  were 
in  use  in  antiquity,  and  that  in  various  sub-species,  partly  as  solo 
instruments,  partly  united  in  an  orchestra,  has  been  mentioned 
in  the  proper  place.  As  regards  wind-instruments,  however,  we 
must  here  lay  stress  on  a  peculiarity  of  their  gradual  develop- 
ment, a  phenomenon  which  we  shall  have  occasion  in  the  farther 
course  of  the  history  of  instrumental  music  to  consider  once 
more,  viz:  that  their  development,  as  culture  advances,  proceeds 
from  the  complex  to  the  simple:  the  oldest  wind-instrument  is 
the  "Pan's-pipes"  (the  "Syrinx"  of  the  Greeks),  formed  of  many 


*  According  to  Greek  tradition  it  was  a  tortoise,  the  appearance  of  which 
in  this  condition  suggested  to  the  god  Hermes  as  he  walked  by  the  sea-shore 
the  idea  of  the  Lvre. 


DfSTBUMESTAL   Ml  SIC.  123 

reeds,  later  the  T)ouble-flutew  appears,  and  when  the  antique 
civilization  reaches  its  climax,  the  simple  Flute  attains  the  su- 
premacy. 

During  the  Middle  Age,  besides  the  traditional  musical  in- 
struments those  with  keys  and  bows  were  also  in  use,  especially 
among  the  Northern  nations,  yet  were  on  so  low  a  plane  of 
development  as  to  be  utterly  unfitted  for  rendering  artistic  music- 
forms  like  those  that  had  already  then  developed  themselves  in 
vocal  music.  The  first  instrument  to  serve  higher  artistic  pur- 
poses was  the  Orgun\  by  the  very  consequence  of  its  relation- 
ship to  the  church  it  was  in  the  hands  of  eminent  and  learned 
musicians  at  a  time  when  th»  other  instruments  were  exclusively 
given  over  to  itinerant  players  or  afterwards  to  the  town-musi- 
cians. During  the  first  centuries  after  its  introduction  into  the 
church  it  was,  on  account  of  its  awkward  mechanism,  certainly 
ill  calculated  to  contribute  to  the  dignity  of  divine  service.  An 
English  historian,  the  monk  WULSTON,  writes  in  the  year  951 
of  an  organ  built  for  Winchester  Cathedral  having  four  hundred 
pipes  and  thirteen  pairs  of  bellows,  the  latter  requiring  seventy 
men  to  blow  them :  yet  as  the  instrument  had  but  ten  tones,  forty 
pipes  being  under  the  control  of  each  key,  evidently  the  chief 
aim  must  have  been  the  attainment  of  the  greatest  possible  power. 
It  was  not  much  better  with  the  organs  afterwards  built  at  Halber- 
stadt,  Magdeburg  and  Erfurt,  whose  keys  were  a  hand  broad  and 
could  be  pressed  down  only  by  the  fist  or  even  the  elbows.  The 
Brunswick  music-director  MICHAEL  PILETORIUS,  whose  "Syntagma 
musicum",  published  in  1615,  contains  in  the  section  entitled 
"Organographie"  important  information  about  the  instruments  of 
former  times,  says  of  these  organs  that  for  the  kind  of  music  then 
in  use  one  could  make  out  very  well  with  them,  "seeing  that  no 
composition  with  many  voices  but  only  the  simple  monophonic 
choral  was  played  on  them".  With  this  the  organists  were  satis- 
fied until  singers  had  begun  to  sound  various  tone-series  simul- 
taneously (see  p.  28  and  the  organ  also  on  its  part  wished  to 
enjoy  the  advantages  of  polyphonic  music.  It  was  of  course  im- 
possible to  play  in  parallel  Fifths  and  Octaves,  after  the  manner 
of  the  "Organum",  as  the  stiffness  of  the  touch  did  not  allow 
more  than  one  key  at  a  time  to  be  played:  this  was  remedied, 
however,  by  so  uniting  several  pipes  tuned  in  Fifths  and  Octaves 


124  INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC. 

that  they  could  all  be  simultaneously  sounded  by  means  of  one 
key.  These  so-called  Mixtures,  which  have  been  retained  to  this 
day,  must  have  had  at  first  a  barbarous  effect;  but  in  the  modern 
organ  the  symphonous*  Fifths  and  Octaves  are  so  subdued  that 
our  ear  does  not  recognize  them  as  independent  tones  but  merely 
ns  an  integration  and  re-inforcement  of  the  melody. 

Improvement  in  organ-playing  went  of  course  hand  in  hand 
with  that  of  the  instrument;  its  first  evolution  as  also  its  final 
perfection  it  found  in  Germany,  where  we  meet  at  an  early  date 
two  artists  of  great  merit  for  the  cultivation  of  the  technic  of 
organ-playing:  BERNHARD  MURER,  probably  identical  with  BER- 
NARD THE  GERMAN,  engaged  at  St.  Mark's,  Venice,  in  1470,  and 
regarded  as  the  inventor  of  organ-pedals,  and  the  organist  of 
St.  Sebaldus,  Niirnberg,  CONRAD  PAUMANN  or  PAULMANN,  born 
blind,  died  at  Munich  in  1473.  Subsequently  Italy  becomes  the 
real  seat  of  organ-playing,  Venice  especially,  after  th*j  most  famous 
organist  of  his  time,  CLAUDIO  MERULO,  was  appointed  principal 
organist  of  St.  Mark's,  in  that  city.  But  Italian  organ-playing 
reaches  its  climax  in  Rome  with  GIROLAMO  FRESCOBALDI,  from 
1615  organist  of  St.  Peter's  in  that  city,  whose  art  had  such  fasci- 
nation that  his  admirers  followed  him  in  his  journeys  from  city 
to  city,  and  ambitious  organists  of  all  countries  sought  his  in- 
struction. After  him  and  his  likewise  famous  pupil  PASQUINI, 
organ-playing  in  Italy,  whose  powers  were  just  now  entirely  taken 
up  with  the  cultivation  of  dramatic  music,  falls  into  a  decline 
and  blossoms  again  in  Germany,  where  SAMUEL  SCHEIDT  (died 
in  1654  as  organist  of  the  church  of  St.  Maurice  at  Halle,  his 
native  city)  begins  the  series  of  illustrious  organists  in  which  the 
names  of  FROBERGER,  PACHELBEL,  BUXTEHUDE,  REINKEN,  lastly 
SEBASTIAN  BACH  appear  as  shining  lights.  All  these  worked  not 
only  as  virtuosos  but  also  as  composers  for  their  instrument  and 
became  creators  of  a  peculiar  style  of  instrumental  music  whose 
development,  in  view  of  the  already  mentioned  specially  honor- 
able position  of  the  organ,  necessarily  followed  from  this  as  a 


*  We  have  no  word  in  English  exactly  corresponding  to  the  German 
"mitklingend",  literally,  "together-sounding".  I  have  therefore  ventured  to  coin, 
from  the  Greek,  the  word  "symphonous",  which  exactly  expresses  the  meaning 
of  the  German  word.  (See  my  Primer  of  Modern  Tonality,  first  foot-note, 
page  15.)  Translator. 


INSTllt  MENTAL  MUSIC.  125 

logical  consequence.  The  essential  features  of  this  style  might  be 
recognized  at  once  in  the  works  of  the  afore-mentioned  masters; 
but  for.  better  understanding  the  style  as  also  the  instrumental 
music-forms  that  attained  development  at  the  same  time  with  it, 
let  us  previously  consider  the  evolutionary  process  of  the  other 
instruments,  especially  of  the  pianoforte,  which  at  quite  an  early 
period  took  a  similar  exceptional  position  among  the  instruments 
to  that  of  the  organ,  after  it  had  proved  itself  to  be  as  well  and 
even  better  adapted  than  the  latter  to  the  representation  of  mu- 
sical thoughts  and  forms  of  the  most  different  kind. 

The  origin  of  the  keyed  iYrtW^r-instruments  is  traced  to  two 
primitive  instruments  -  -  the  Monochord  and  the  Psaltery.  The 
former  consisted  of  a  long,  narrow  four-cornered  sound-box  with 
"/"•  string  (as  the  Greek  name  implies),  which  by  means  of  a 
movable  bridge  could  be  divided  up  according  to  a  diagram  of 
proportionate  lengths  marked  under  it.  This  instrument  served 
in  antiquity  as  also  in  the  Middle  Age  for  the  determination  of 
the  tone-relationships  (intervals)  and  for  the  first  instruction  in 
music.  In  the  course  of  time,  in  order  to  dispense  with  the  shift- 
ing of  the  bridge,  keys  were  adapted  to  one  of  the  sides  of  the 
box,  to  the  lever-ends  of  which  brass  pins  were  fixed,  so  that, 
the  key  being  pressed  down,  the  pins  would  rise  and  at  the  same 
time  divide  the  string  and  make  it  sound.*  After  the  addition 
of  more  strings,  the  Monochord  became  in  the  12th  or  13th  cen- 
tury the  Clavichord,  which,  however,  preserved  up  to  the  most 
recent  times  the  memory  of  its  origin,  the  number  of  its  strings 
being  smaller,  even  despite  the  continuous  improvement  of  the 
instrument,  than  that  of  its  tones  and  the  keys  corresponding  to 
them.  Until  1725,  from  which  time  the  clavichord  began  to  dis- 
pense with  frets,  one  and  the  same  string,  struck  at  a  smaller 
or  greater  distance  from  the  bridge,  served  for  two  tones,  the 
diatonic  tone  and  the  chromatic  half-step  above  it,  so  that  a 
simultaneous  sounding  of  both  these  tones  was  impossible. 

Over  against  the  Clavichord  stand  the  key-instruments  de- 
rived from  the  Psaltery,  viz :  the  Harpsichord  (Clavicembalo,  Cem- 


*  The  shorter  part  of  the  string,  not  intended  to  be  sounded,  does  in- 
deed give  a  tone  also,  but  so  weak  as  to  be  quite  covered  up  by  that  of  the 
longer  part. 


126  INSTRUMENTAL  MUS'C. 

balo)  and  its  varieties  the  Spinet  and  Virginal,  this  last  name 
having  been  conferred  in  England,  in  honor  of  the  Virgin  Queen 
Elisabeth,  as  some  say,  more  probably  because  the  instrument 
played  an  important  part  in  the  education  of  young  women.  The 
instruments  of  the  harpsichord,  clavicembalo  or  spinet  family 
differed  from  the  clavichord  in  that  they  were  constructed  on  the 
plectrum  principle,  i.  e.,  "the  strings  were  set  in  motion  by  points 
of  quill  or  hard  leather  elevated  on  wooden  uprights  known  as 
'jacks',  and  twitching  or  plucking  them  as  the  depression  of  the 
keys  caused  the  points  to  pass  upwards.  Leather  points  were 
probably  used  first,  since  we  learn  from  SCALIGER,  who  lived 
1484 — 1550,  that  crowquills  were  introduced  in  key-instruments 
subsequent  to  his  boyhood,  and  he  informs  us  that  through  them 
the  name  'spinet'  ^from  spina,  a  thorn  or  point)  became  applied 
to  what  had  been  known  as  the  'clavicymbal'  and  'harpsichord'."* 
The  clearness  of  tone  resulting  from  this  principle,  to  which  ful- 
ness also  was  not  wanting  after  the  harpsichord  had  become  po- 
lychordal,  in  the  sense  of  having  two  or  more  strings  to  each 
tone,  fitted  the  instrument  for  cooperation  with  the  orchestra, 
and  it  remained  till  after  HANDEL'S  time  a  valued  support  in 
larger  vocal  and  instrumental  performances.  Such  advantages  the 
clavichord,  with  its  gentle,  transparent  tone-quality,  of  course 
could  not  claim,  but  on  the  other  hand  it  was  much  better  adapted 
for  reproducing  the  psychic  subject-matter  of  a  piece  of  music  and 
bringing  out  its  fine  points.  BACH  is  said  to  have  preferred  the 
clavichord  to  the  pianoforte,  and  BEETHOVEN  to  have  expressed 
himself  to  the  effect  that  "the  clavichord  among  all  key-instru- 
ments was  that  on  which  one  could  best  control  tone  and  expres- 
sive interpretation". 

Notwithstanding  the  importance  of  piano-playing  in  the  17th 
and  still  more  in  the  beginning  of  the  18th  century,  the  technics 
of  the  art  remained  on  an  extremely  low  plane  up  to  BACH'S 
time.  Special  difficulty  was  found  in  the  treatment  of  the  thumb, 
which  for  centuries  was  employed  merely  for  stretching  larger 
intervals,  whilst  in  scales  and  passages  it  could  be  put  to  no 
better  use  than  supporting  the  fingers  engaged  —  generally  only 
the  third  and  fourth,  —  sliding  meanwhile  to  and  fro  on  a  board 


GROVE'S  Dictionary  of  Music,  Part  VI,  article  "Harpsichord". 


INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC.  127 

placed  below  the  key-board.  How  little  stress  was  laid  upon  a 
systematic  fingering  is  seen  in  the  assertion  of  PR^ETORIUS,  that 
"it  makes  no  difference  whether  this  or  that  fingering  be  used: 
make  your  runs  with  whatever  fingers  you  choose,  even  use  your 
nose  for  it,  so  long  as  everything  is  made  to  sound  well  and 
correct",  etc.  -  -  and  more  than  a  century  afterward  MATTHESON 
writes,  in  his  "School  of  Thorough  bass"  (Hamburg,  1731):  "As  many 
as  there  are  players,  almost  so  many  kinds  of  fingering  will  you 
find.  One  runs  with  four  fingers,  another  with  five,  some  even 
-  and  almost  as  fast  —  with  only  two.  It  is  of  no  consequence, 
so  long  as  one  adopts  a  certain  rule  and  sticks  to  it".  In  this 
connection  we  will  not  omit  to  mention  the  merits  that  the 
French,  besides  the  Germans  and  Italians,  have  acquired  in  devel- 
oping piano-playing.  Especially  after  the  close  of  the  1  7th  century 
this  art  was  lovingly  cherished  by  the  French  organists,  among 
them  Louis  MARCHAND  ;born  1669  ,  a  master  in  brilliant  and 
elegant  playing,  though  he  felt  obliged  to  decline  entering  into 
a  musical  rivalry  with  SEBASTIAN  BACH  on  meeting  him  at  Dres- 
den; then,  his  pupil  RAMEAU,  already  alluded  to  as  opera-com- 
poser and  theoretician;  lastly  FRAN£OIS  COUPERIN  (born  1668), 
the  famous  member  of  a  numerous  family  of  artists  of  this  name, 
whose  fine  and  elegant  compositions,  though  occasionally  over- 
loaded with  embellishments,  determined  the  direction  of  the  piano- 
playing  of  his  time  and  were  highly  esteemed  even  by  SEBASTIAN 
BACH.  To  the  efforts  of  this  artist  in  the  department  of  the  purely 
technical  his  T/art  de  toucher  le  clavecin",  published  in  1716  at 
Paris,  gives  brilliant  testimony.  The  fingering  here  recommended 
already  points  to  a  more  frequent  use  of  the  thumb,  though  it 
would  seem  that  it  was  not  before  BACH  that  all  the  fingers  had 
been  trained  to  an  equal  development.  How  greatly  the  devel- 
opment of  the  technics  of  piano-playing  in  other  respects  was 
promoted  by  BACH,  is  seen  partly  from  his  compositions,  partly 
also  from  the  instruction-book  of  his  son  and  pupil  CARL  PHILIPP 
EMAXUEL  BACH,  "Essay  on  the  true  manner  of  playing  the  piano- 
forte" (Berlin,  1759),  which  summarizes  all  the  experiences  made 
up  to  that  time,  and  starting  out  from  them  effects  the  transition 
to  modern  pianoforte-playing. 

Little  as   EMANUEL  BACH  is  to  be   compared  in   depth  and 
creative  power  with  his  father,  he  still  deserves  a  prominent  place 


DEPARTMENT  OF 

EXTENSION. 


128  INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC. 

in  the  history  of  instrumental  music,  and  the  honors  paid  to  him 
as  virtuoso  and  composer  by  his  contemporaries  were  by  no  means 
undeserved.  In  his  various  spheres  of  action,  from  1740  to  1767 
as  chamber-pianist  to  Frederick  the  Great  and  music-director  to 
the  princess  Amelia  of  Prussia,  then  until  his  death  in  1788  as 
music-director  at  Hamburg,  he  was  counted  an  authority  of  the 
first  rank,  especially  in  the  domain  of  pianoforte-playing.  "He  is 
the  father,  we  are  the  youngsters",  said  MOZART  in  an  assembly, 
when  his  playing  was  spoken  of;  "whoever  of  us  can  do  anything 
right  learned  it  of  him;  and  he  who  will  not  acknowledge  this 
is  a  — w.  HAYDN,  too,  recognized  in  his  last  years  the  merits  of 
the  older  master  in  the  words:  "He  who  knows  me  thoroughly 
must  find  that  I  owe  very  much  to  EMANUEL  BACH,  that  I  have 
understood  him  and  diligently  studied  him;  he  himself  once  paid 
me  a  compliment  about  it".  For  the  present  time  EMANUEL  BACH'S 
compositions  have,  as  genuine  expressions  of  the  taste  of  his  time, 
characterized  as  it  was  by  sickly  sentimentality,  lost  most  of  their 
effect.  Yet  his  influence  on  the  pianoforte-playing  of  that  time 
must  have  been  the  greater  for  the  reason  that  he  marks  the 
transition,  from  the  practice  of  the  older  composers  who  left  the 
details  of  embellishment  almost  entirely  to  the  executant,  to  that 
of  the  later  ones,  by  whom  everything  referring  to  the  delivery 
is  with  great  minuteness  prescribed  to  the  player. 

In  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  older  masters  of  the  piano- 
forte thus  far  named,  the  instrument  would  hardly  have  attained 
its  present  importance  in  musical  life  had  a  mechanism  not  been 
invented  by  whose  means  the  tone  could  sound  in  various  degrees 
of  power,  which  was  not  the  case  with  either  the  clavichord  or  the 
harpsichord.  The  first  impulse  to  the  invention  of  such  a  mechan- 
ism was  given  by  the  DULCIMER,  made  by  a  certain  PANTALEON 
HEBENSTREIT  at  the  end  of  the  17th  century,  after  the  manner  of 
the  cymbal,  and  struck  with  hammers  in  the  hand.  The  advan- 
tage here  of  being  able  to  strike  the  strings  powerfully,  or  softly 
at  pleasure,  suggested  to  the  Paduan  CRISTOFALI  (or  CRISTOFORI), 
about  1710,  the  idea  of  providing  the  upper  ends  of  the  keys  of 
the  harpsichord  with  hammers,  to  spring  up  from  below  against 
the  strings  and  to  rebound  immediately  after  the  stroke.  Soon 
afterward  he  perfected  liis  invention  by  a  contrivance  for  damp- 
ing, which  suppresses  the  sound  of  the  string  the  moment  the 


INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC.  129 

finger  is  raised  from  the  key.  The  instrument  so  constructed, 
which  was  called  in  Italy  Piano-forte,  as  admitting  of  soft  or 
loud  playing  at  pleasure,  made  on  its  appearance  no  small  sen- 
sation and  was  immediately  imitated  and  improved  by  the  harp- 
sichord-makers of  that  time.  Some  of  these,  as  MARIUS  in  Paris 
and  the  organist  SCHUSTER  at  Nordhausen,  even  disputed  with 
CRISTOFALI  the  honor  of  the  invention,  yet  it  has  recently  been 
shown  that  it  was  not  till  five  or  six  years  later  that  they  pub- 
licly exhibited  their  models.  Some  twenty-five  years  after  its  in- 
troduction into  Italy  the  piano-forte,  having  been  improved  by 
SILBERMANN  (died  at  Dresden  in  1756),  became  known  in  Ger- 
many; yet  it  did  not  succeed  in  supplanting  the  keyed  string- 
instruments  in  use  at  that  time  until  a  pupil  of  SILBERMANN'S, 
JOHANN  ANDREAS  STEIN,  of  Augsburg,  had  in  the  last  quarter 
of  the  preceding  century  raised  the  instrument  to  that  degree  of 
perfection  that  made  it  capable  of  giving  fit  expression  to  the 
new  spirit  of  music  that  meanwhile  had  awakened. 

Still  another  instrument  of  musico-historical  importance  was 
supplanted  by  the  piano-forte  —  the  Lute,  which  had  for  cen- 
turies held  a  scarcely  less  prominent  place  in  musical  life  than 
the  clavichord  or  the  harpsichord.  It  was  first  introduced  into 
Europe  (Spain)  by  the  Arabs,  its  name  being  derived  from  the 
Arabic  al  oud,  the  shell.  Its  shape,  suggestive  of  the  shell  of 
the  tortoise,  confirms  this  origin,  and  at  the  same  time  its  affinity 
to  the  most  ancient  string -instrument  of  the  Greeks,  invented 
according  to  tradition  by  the  god  Hermes.  The  strings  of  the 
lute ,  which  were  plucked  by  the  fingers ,  lay  partly  over  partly 
beside  the  finger-board;  their  number  varied  with  the  different 
patterns  of  the  instrument,  of  which  at  PR^TORIUS'  time  seven 
were  in  use,  from  the  theorbo,  which  had  a  very  long  neck  and 
was  used  in  Italy  for  song-accompaniment,  and  the  similar  great 
octave  bass-lute,  down  to  the  treble,  small  treble  and  small  octave- 
lute.  The  lute  was  employed  not  only  for  accompanying  solo  and 
chorus-singing,  but  also  as  a  solo  and  orchestral  instrument,  and 
it  was  at  home  everywhere,  both  at  church  and  in  opera,  but 
most  especially  in  private  circles.  It  has  an  extensive  literature, 
beginning  with  CONRAD  PADMANN  (see  p.  124),  who  invented  for 
it  a  peculiar  notation,  the  German  Tabluture  *  so-called,  according 

•  The  word    Tablature  (from   the  Latin  tabula,  table)  denotes  not  only 

9 


130 


INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC. 


to  which  the  strings  lying  over  the  finger-board  are  indicated  by 
German  letters,  the  open  strings  lying  near  them  by  figures,  and 

the  note-values  by  the  stems  and  tails    y  f>  !$  of  modern  notation. 

The  following,  from  a  book  by  HANS  GERLE  (Niirnberg,  1532), 
is  an  example  of  a  folk-song*  in  lute-tablature  with  a  transcrip- 
tion in  modern  notation. 


133— .,  Z3 

£t_ f  I 

L_   I  I 


f  .'  / ;  / 1  c  /  £  r/ 1 


1$?  —  . 

—  *  —  « 

H-|    ^ 

i  , 

—  i  

1  !—  I  ,  

^>                         >, 

r  r  r  r  r  /  / 

oo      o      5      c     /     5 

•        *    --^ 

r/r  " 

o/o        n 

/  f    C  /  ~ 

1    o      i    /      o 

The  literature  of  this  instrument  does  not  appear  to  have 
come  to  an  end  until  the  time  of  JOHANN  ADAM  HILLER  (see 
p.  98),  whose  operettas  were  still  printed  in  an  arrangement  for 
the  lute,  yet  even  then  its  popularity  had  greatly  diminished. 
MATTHESON,  as  early  as  the  first  quarter  of  the  preceding  cen- 
tury, formally  declares  war  against  the  lute  and  blames  especially 
the  superficiality  of  its  "professors",  moreover  its  "insinuating  tone- 
quality,  which  always  promises  more  than  it  performs",  finally  the 
difficulty  also  of  properly  tuning  it.  This  must  indeed  have  been 


the  whole  body  of  the  art-rules  current  among  the  Master-singers  (see  p.  43), 
but  also  what  we  now  call  score  (vocal  or  orchestral),  or  simply,  in  the  case 
of  monophonic  music,  notation.  There  were  two  kinds  of  tablature  for  the 
lute  —  the  German  and  the  Italian,  the  latter  consisting  of  a  system  of  six 
lines,  on  which  the  frets  were  indicated  by  ciphers.  This  system  was  intro- 
duced into  Germany  also  about  the  year  1600.  Besides  the  above  there  is 
also  what  was  called  an  organ-tdblature  for  key-instruments,  a  method  of 
indicating  tones  by  letters,  as  represented  in  my  Primer  of  Modern  Tonality, 
p.  12,  Fig.  4.  Translator. 

*  It  has  been  arranged  by  ROBERT  FRANZ  under  the  title:  KAch  Els- 
lein,  liebes  Elselein". 


INSTRUMENTAL  MT8IC.  131 

almost  insuperable,  as  the  strings  lying  over  the  finger-hoard  were 
doubled,  while  those  lying  next  to  them,  as  they  could  not  be 
shortened,  necessarily  got  out  of  tune  with  every  change  of  key. 
Besides,  the  smallness  and  weakness  of  the  whole  instrument  was 
not  rightly  proportioned  to  the  number  of  strings,  especially  when 
their  number  had  increased  in  the  course  of  time  to  twenty-four, 
fourteen  oter  and  ten  beside  the  finger-board. 

Tin  species  of  bow  and  wind-instruments  were  in  the  earlier 
ages  far  more  numerous  than  now.  The  former  are  to  be  traced 
as  to  their  origin  either  to  the  Keltic  Crotta,  called  by  the  me- 
diiEval  writers  liota  or  Rotte,  or  to  the  Arabic  Rebec,  afterwards 
the  favorite  instrument  of  the  Troubadours.  In  mediaeval  Latin 
these  instruments  were  named,  after  the  wordjides  (a  gut-string), 
fidula  or  vidula,  which  expression,  variously  corrupted,  led  through 
the  intermediate  forms  figella,  vielle  and  tioel  to  the  Italian  "viola" 
and  English  "fiddle"  and  "viol".  At  the  beginning  of  the  Middle 
Age  we  find  the  viola  in  two  species:  the  viola  da  gatnbu  (leg- 
violin)  and  the  viola  da  braccia  (arm- violin),  which  are  again  sub- 
divided into  thirteen  sub-species,  corresponding  to  the  various 
registers  of  the  human  voice.  This  is  explained  by  the  fact  that 
far  beyond  the  Middle  Age  there  was  no  independent  instrumental 
music  and  the  instruments  had  to  be  satisfied,  if  they  were  to 
participate  at  all  in  artistic  music,  with  simply  doubling  the  voice- 
parts  of  polyphonic  vocal  compositions.  As  the  bow-instruments 
accordingly  were  grouped  in  bass,  tenor,  alto  and  treble  viols,  so 
too  the  wind-instruments  formed  each  for  itself  a  similar  family 
in  various  grades,  the  older  wood  wind-instruments  the  bombard 
and  shawm  being  specially  rich  in  sub-species  affording  collectively 
the  compass  of  five  and  a  half  octaves. 

This  variety  still  existed  in  the  17tb  century,  at  the  time  of 
PR2ETORIUS.  Meanwhile  an  entirely  new  field  of  activity  was 
opened  for  instrumental  music;  after  MONTE  VERDE  had  recognized 
and  taught  how  to  consider  the  individuality  of  each  separate 
instrument,  the  time  came  when  a  return  from  multiplicity  to  &im- 
pHcity  became  necessary,  and  the  majority  of  the  instruments  till 
then  in  use  had  to  make  way  for  some  few  that  were  best  adapted 
for  solving  the  higher  art- problems  that  henceforth  were  pro- 
pounded. Of  the  bow-instruments  but  four  species  conquered  in 
the  struggle  for  existence:  the  bass- viola  and  the  tenor  viola  da 

9» 


132  INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC. 

gamba  passed  over  into  the  modern  orchestra  as  contralasso  and 
violoncello  respectively;  so  too  the  tenor  viola  as  simply  viola, 
and  the  treble  viola  as  violin  (Italian  violino,  the  termination  "mo" 
being  diminutive).  In  the  same  proportion  the  number  of  wind- 
instruments  was  reduced;  out  of  the  many  kinds  of  the  cross-flute 
(flauto  traverse)  and  the  beak-flute  (flute  a  bee),  which  latter  is 
not  held  across  the  lips  but  straight  out,  and  is  blown  by  means 
of  a  mouth-piece  like  a  bird's  beak,  only  the  modern  flute  and 
clarinet  were  retained.  From  the  shawm  was  developed  the  oboe, 
which  at  first  (about  1700}  also  appears  in  various  sizes,  but  at 
the  golden  age  of  instrumental  music  exists  in  only  one  form. 
Of  the  bombard  finally  there  remained  but  the  bass-bombard, 
which,  after  its  long,  unwieldy  tube  had  been  changed  into  a 
double  tube  like  a  fagot  was  called  in  Italian  fagotto,  in  English 
bassoon*  Of  the  instruments  which  in  time  have  wholly  dis- 
appeared, we  will  mention  here  the  cornet  only  (in  the  old  sense 
of  the  word),  a  wind-instrument  of  wood  covered  with  black 
leather,  in  some  species  straight  in  form,  in  others  crooked.  On 
account  of  its  clear  and  penetrating  tone  it  was  extensively  used 
in  church-music  and  by  town-musicians,  also  for  sounding  the 
melodies  of  chorals  from  church-towers,  as  late  as  the  beginning 
of  the  18th  century. 

It  is  easily  conceivable  that  the  smaller  the  number  of 
varieties  of  instruments  the  greater  could  be  the  care  bestowed 
on  their  construction.  Violin-making  begins  to  flourish  in  Italy 
as  early  as  1600,  Cremona  having  among  all  cities  made  for  it- 
self a  special  name  in  this  regard.  Here  at  first  labored  the 
family  AMATI,  whose  progenitor  ANTONIO  (1592 — 1619)  gave  bow- 
instruments  the  form  that  they  have  in  spite  'of  all  attempted 
improvements  retained  to  this  day.  If,  notwithstanding,  Cremona 
violin-making  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  17th  century  was  able 
through  ANDREA,  GIUSEPPE  and  PIETRO  GUARNERI,  also  ANTON 
STRADIVARI,  to  make  progress,  still  the  construction  of  the 


*  "There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  bassoon  is  of  Eastern  origin. 
*  *  *  #  *  The  Egyptian  word  for  a  pipe  of  deep  tone  *  *  *  *  is,  according 
to  E.  \V.  LANE  ('Modern  Egyptians'),  Zummarah-bi-soan ,  and  the  manner  in 
which  the  word  liuzaine,  Buisine,  is  used  in  mediaeval  MSS.,  shows  a  possible 
connection  with  this  origin."  STAINER  and  BARRETT'S  Dictionary  of  Musical 
terms,  article  "Bassoon".  Translator. 


INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC.  133 

instrument  did  not  undergo  at  the  hands  of  these  masters  any 
essential  alteration.  It  is  different  with  wind-instruments,  which 
have  up  to  the  latest  hour  experienced  (through  ADOLPH  SAX  in 
Paris^  transformative  improvements.  That  epoch  was  however  a 
specially  important  one  for  the  development  of  wind-instruments 
also;  the  flute  —  for  instance  —  owes  many  an  improvement  to 
JOIIANN  JOACHIM  QUANZ  (1697 — 1773),  court-composer  and  teacher 
of  Frederick  the  Great,  he  having  before  his  call  to  Berlin  earnestly 
devoted  himself  to  the  improvement  of  its  mechanism  and  after- 
wards (1752)  published  his  experiences  in  a  valuable  monograph 
"Attempt  at  a  method  of  playing  the  cross-flute." 

The  necessary  consequence  of  the  increasing  independence 
of  the  instruments  was  their  emancipation  from  vocal  music,  and 
the  development  of  a  style  in  keeping  with  their  capacities,  as 
also  of  the  music-forms  resulting  therefrom.  The  instrumental 
style  is  distinguished  from  the  vocal  essentially  by  greater  rhyth- 
mical precision  as  also  by  greater  flexibility.  The  former  attribute 
it  owes  to  the  dance,  for  accompanying  which  the  instruments 
were  seen  to  be  by  their  very  nature  better  adapted  than  the 
human  voice,  which  for  evident  reasons,  such  as  the  necessity  of 
drawing  breath,  and  of  a  distinct  pronunciation  of  the  text,  etc., 
was  unable  to  adapt  itself  with  perfect  ease  to  the  movements 
of  the  dancers.  This  did  not  hinder  it,  however,  from  associating 
itself  with  the  dance  in  antiquity  and  even  far  into  the  Middle 
Age,  until  at  last  the  instruments  had  sufficiently  advanced  in 
their  development  to  take  sole  possession  of  dance-music,  and, 
while  retaining  the  song-form,  to  carry  out  still  farther  the  inde- 
pendent culture  of  that  dance-tune,*  the  HyporcJiema  of  the 
ancients.  —  The  greater  flexibility  of  the  instrumental  style  lay 
also  in  the  very  nature  of  the  instruments,  and  showed  itself  at 
an  early  date  in  the  necessity  they  were  under  of  dividing  up  the 


*  The  primitive  identity  of  dance-music  with  gong  is  commemorated  by 
the  technical  term  "Song-form"  (in  German,  "Liedform"),  which  is  applied  in 
an  enlarged  sense,  as  comprising  the  structure  also  of  the  different  varieties 
of  pieces  composed  for  dancing.  With  a  view  to  greater  exactness  of  termin- 
ology, however,  the  expression  "Primary  form*'  has  been  recommended  to  take 
the  place  of  "Song-form".  See  my  Theory  and  Practice  of  Musical  Form,  on 
the  basis  of  LUDWIO  BUBSLER'B  Formenlehre"  (published  by  O.  SCHIRMER, 
New  York),  Chapter  VL  Translator. 


134  INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC. 

long-sustained  tones  of  song  into  smaller  parts,  which  was  called 
"diminishing",  "coloring"  or  "varying".  In  this,  too,  instrumental 
music  had  for  the  time  being  kept  pace  with  song,  as  long,  that 
is,  as  the  "art  of  organating"  was  practised  by  singers  with  the 
unconstraint  alluded  to  on  page  45.  But  when  the  singers,  as  we 
saw  at  the  same  place,  went  back,  as  polyphonic  music  became 
more  and  more  developed,  to  the  sustained  style  of  composition, 
the  instruments  began  to  cultivate  all  the  more  zealously  the 
"dimir.ishing",  etc.  henceforth  given  over  to  them  exclusively,  and 
the  immediate  result  of  their  efforts  in  this  direction  was  the  rise 
of  special  instrumental  music-forms,  of  which  the  Toccata  is  the 
oldest.  In  this  species  of  composition  the  last-mentioned  pecu- 
liarity of  style  has  full  play,  inasmuch  as  here  instead  of  the  sus- 
tained melody  running  and  broken  figures  predominate,  into  which 
the  harmony  is  decomposed.  It  owes  its  artistic  form  to  the 
Venetian  organist  CLAUDIO  MERULO  (see  p.  1 24),  who  published  in 
1598  his  first  Toccatas;  it  obtained  its  perfect  development  through 
FRESCOBALDI,  whose  Toccatas  include  all  the  musical  achievements 
of  his  time:  the  fugue,  free  imitation,  brilliant  passage-work  and 
mighty  torrents  of  chord-successions. 

What  is  called  cantabile  playing,  over  against  the  figured 
style  of  the  Toccata,  came  into  prominence  in  a  second  art-form, 
the  Canzone,  in  name  as  in  its  nature  a  transformation  of  the 
French  chanson.  It  also  hails  from  Venice,  where  JOHANNES 
GABRIELI  (from  the  end  of  the  16th  century  on)  published  a  large 
number  of  such  compositions.  Still  greater  acknowledgments  are 
due  this  artist  for  procuring  the  participation  of  the  bow-instru- 
ments and  wind-instruments  in  the  improvements  that  had  been 
made,  after  composers  had  up  to  that  time  devoted  all  their  efforts 
to  key-instruments  exclusively.  The  independent  orchestral  pieces 
composed  by  GABRIELI  are,  to  be  sure,  of  the  most  modest  di- 
mensions; their  entire  length  amounts  to  from  twelve  to  twenty 
measures,  and  they  had  but  one  aim,  either  as  "Symphony"  to 
introduce  a  vocal  piece ,  or^  as  "Bitornello"  (interlude) ,  to  fill  up 
the  pauses  enabling  the  singer  to  rest.  Similar  is  the  case  with 
the  Sonata,  which  likewise  appears  about  this  time;  its  name 
originally  means  nothing  more  than  an  instrumental  piece,  as  is 
shown  by  the  very  title  of  GABRIELI'S  work  (published  in  1586): 


INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC.  135 

''Sonata  a  cinque  per  istromenti",*  and  by  the  words  of  PILETO- 
RIUS:  "Sonata  (from  sonando)  is  so  called  because  the  performance 
is  not  with  human  voices  but  with  instruments  only."  If  more- 
over we  read  in  the  same  author  that  "the  word  'sonata*  or  'so- 
nada'  is  applied  to  the  flourish  of  trumpets  for  calling  to  meals 
or  to  the  dance,"  we  may  calculate  the  enormous  distance  that 
separates  that  music-form  from  the  modern  complex  sonata. 

The  complex  or  cyclical  instrumental  music-forms  are  how- 
ever by  no  means  of  recent  date;  in  the  earliest  days  of  town- 
musicians  and  musical  guilds  it  was  customary  to  perform  a 
number  of  dance-tunes,  united  in  a  series  or  cycle,  without  the 
dance  that  belonged  to  them.  The  dance-tunes  thus  strung  to- 
gether, in  other  respects  having  no  other  inter-connection  than 
community  of  key,  were  at  first  called  in  Italian  Partita,  and  soon 
excited  the  attention  of  players  of  key-instruments,  especially  of 
the  French,  under  whose  hands  the  Partita  was  raised  to  the 
dignity  of  the  Suite.  As  such  it  went  back  to  Germany,  where, 
as  is  well  known,  it  was  developed  by  BACH  to  the  utmost  pos- 
sible perfection,  yet  without  drawing  near  to  the  modern  sonata, 
which  essentially  differs  from  the  suite  in  this,  that  its  several 
movements  have  organic  coherence  one  with  another.  The  im- 
pulse to  the  development  of  this  artistically  immeasurably  higher 
cyclical  form  was  given  by  the  tripartite  opera-overture  in  the  form 
it  had  acquired  in  Italy  through  A.  SCARLATTI,  in  France  through 
LULLI.  It  has  been  already  remarked,  in  speaking  of  the  former 
artist,  that  this  overture,  after  its  movements  had  been  separated 
and  enlarged,  and  inwardly  perfected  for  performance  at  concerts, 
led  over  into  the  modern  orchestral  symphony.  As  an  interme- 
diate stage  in  this  evolution  we  may  regard  the  solo  violin-sonata 
of  many  movements  developed  in  Italy,  especially  by  CORELLI 
(died  in  1713);  also  the  concerto  of  three  movements  introduced 
by  the  Venetian  violinist  VIVALDI  (died  1743).  Already  here  the 
cyclical  form  appears  perfectly  developed,  as  is  proved  by  SEBAS- 


*  This  title  is  moreover  characteristic  of  the  primitive  condition  of  the 
instrumental  music  of  that  date:  up  to  MONTEVERDE'S  time  composers  did  not 
assign  to  each  instrument  a  special  part  in  keeping  with  its  character,  but 
were  content  to  write  out  the  voice-parts  of  an  orchestral  movement,  leaving 
it  to  the  director  to  fill  them,  according  to  their  compass,  with  the  instrument* 
that  he  happened  to  have  at  his  disposal. 


136  INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC. 

TIAN  BACH'S  "Italian  concerto"  for  clavichord,  which  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  model  for  the  modern  sonata-form.  That  the  master 
who  was  creative  in  so  many  provinces  of  his  art  did  not  feel 
called  upon  to  transfer  this  form  to  the  pianoforte,  but  was  satis- 
fied with  this  single  attempt,  is  all  the  more  difficult  to  under- 
stand from  the  fact  that  the  need  of  such  a  transference  had  in 
many  ways  manifested  itself  already  before  his  time. 

JOHANN  KUHNAU,  BACH'S  predecessor  as  precentor  at  St.  Thomas' 
church  at  Leipsic,  had  first  ventured  on  the  attempt,  yet  without 
being  clearly  conscious  of  the  importance  of  this  step.  In  the 
preface  to  his  work  entitled  "Clavier-exercises",  etc.,  published 
1695,  he  excuses  his  attempt  in  the  words:  "Why  should  such 
things  not  be  done  on  the  clavier  just  as  on  other  instruments, 
since  no  single  instrument  has  ever  disputed  with  the  clavier  the 
precedence  in  perfection?"  Yet  the  new  art-species  seems  to  have 
been  favorably  received  on  the  part  of  the  piano-forte  players,  for 
soon  afterwards  KUHNAU  published  a  collection  of  seven  sonatas. 
With  scarcely  less  right  than  KUHNAU  can  DOMENICO  SCARLATTI 
(1683 — 1757)  claim  the  paternity  of  the  piano-forte  sonata,  for, 
though  he  went  back  to  the  one-movement  form,  yet  in  this 
movement  the  form  of  the  first  movement  of  our  modern  sonata 
is  already  distinctly  imprinted.  SCARLATTI'S  special  merit,  how- 
ever, is  that  he  brought  in  vogue  a  new  method  of  composition 
adapted  to  the  piano-forte,  by  introducing,  in  place  of  the  poly- 
phonic style  with  its  perfect  equality  of  all  the  parts,  from  which 
neither  KUHNAU  nor  BACH  could  break  loose,  the  homophonic ,  in 
which  essentially  one  voice,  carrying  the  melody,  is  the  ruling 
one,  while  the  other  voices  are  merely  secondary,  as  forming  the 
accompaniment.  This  advance  marks  at  the  same  time  the  se- 
paration of  piano-forte  playing  from  organ  playing,  which  had 
until  then  hardly  been  distinguished  one  from  the  other.  True, 
the  author  of  the  first  organ  and  piano-forte  school,  published 
1593  in  Venice,  Pater  GIROLAMO  DIRUTA,  a  pupil  of  MERULO,  had 
called  attention  to  the  difference  in  the  technical  treatment  of 
these  two  instruments,  yet  the  subsequent  composers  had  dis- 
regarded his  admonitions  and  gone  on,  as  before,  writing  for  key- 
instruments  in  general. 

Nor  did  DOMENICO  SCARLATTI  yet  recognize  the  real  signi- 
ficance of  the  piano-forte  sonata,  but  commended  his  sonatas  to 


LNMUt.M I.MAI.   MUSIC.  137 

the  indulgence  of  the  public  with  the  remark  that  "in  them  not 
deep  design  would  be  found  but  the  ingenious  pleasantry  of  art". 
In  fact,  he  makes  more  account  of  technics  than  of  intellectual 
contents;  yet  by  his  application  of  the  principle  of  tripartition, 
prescriptive  for  the  modern  sonata,  and  by  a  number  of  effective 
innovations  of  a  technical  kind,  such  as  running  passages  in  thirds 
and  sixths,  the  quick  stroke  of  one  and  the  same  key  with  dif- 
ferent fingers,  broken  chords  in  contrary  motion  for  both  hands, 
etc  he  leads  us  directly  into  the  modern  age.  The  piano-forte 
sonata  afterwards  appears  fully  developed  with  EMANUEL  BACH, 
from  whose  hands  it  was  received  by  the  great  masters  of  in- 
strumental music,  first  HAYDN  (1732—1809),  then  MOZART  (1756 
—1791),  by  both  of  whom  the  form  established  by  EM.  BACH 
was  preserved.  It  was  reserved  to  BEETHOVEN  '1770 — 1827)  to 
carry  out  these  forms  to  the  extremest  limits  of  their  expansibility, 
and  thereby  to  adapt  them  for  receiving  the  new  spirit  in  music 
awakened  by  him.  Through  him  also  the  orchestral  symphony 
attained  to  full  maturity :  its  evolutionary  course  need  not  here  be 
described,  as  it  essentially  coincides  with  that  of  the  sonata.  We 
merely  mention  as  chief  points  its  transformation  from  the  three- 
movement  form  of  the  Italian  overture  to  that  of  four  movements 
by  the  addition  of  the  Minuet  from  the  suite,  as  also  the  change 
of  this  dance-piece  into  the  now  passionate  now  humorous  Scherzo 
dating  from  BEETHOVEN. 

The  brilliant  and  dominant  epoch  of  instrumental  music  be- 
ginning with  these  last-named  masters  is  conditionated ,  in  the 
same  degree  as  the  blossoming  of  the  Passion  and  the  Oratorio 
brought  about  by  the  earlier  generation  of  composers,  by  the 
idealistic  world-dew  that  in  Germany  has  always,  but  especially 
since  the  re-awakening  of  the  popular  consciousness  after  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  been  the  characteristic  feature  of  the  intellec- 
tual life.  For,  instrumental  composition  affords  to  the  creative 
musician  far  greater  liberty  to  rise  to  the  supersensual  than 
vocal  composition,  which  with  its  dependence  on  external  con- 
ditions marks  under  all  circumstances  certain  limits  to  the  flight 
of  his  imagination.  Now,  just  as  the  conception  of  music  that 
mine  to  the  surface  in  Germany  during  the  preceding  cen- 
tury is  contrary  to  that  entertained  by  the  neighboring  nations, 
especially  the  French,  so  too  German  philosophy,  after  it  had, 


J38  INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC. 

simultaneously  with  music  and  led  by  the  same  inclination  to 
idealism,  entered  upon  a  new  epoch.  If  Englishmen  and  French- 
men had  indicated  the  sensual  impressions  as  sole  source  of  hu- 
man knowledge  and  consequently  the  former  had  evolved  therefrom 
Sensualism,  the  latter  Materialism ,  the  German  Idealism  finds  tlie 
essential  conditions  of  all  knowledge  in  the  human  spirit  itself; 
and  if  the  former  aim  at  materializing  all  that  is  spiritual,  the 
German  philosophy  everywhere  strives  after  a  spiritualization  of 
matter.  This  is  seen  in  LEIBNITZ,  the  father  of  modern  German 
philosophy,  who  conceives  substance,  e.  <?.,  not  —  with  his  pre- 
decessors —  as  an  aggregate  of  lifeless  atoms  but  of  intellectually 
animated  individuals,  called  by  him  monads.  The  climax  of  this 
philosophy  is  reached  by  IMMANUEL  KANT,  who  through  his  "Crit- 
icism of  pure  reason",  published  in  1781,  arrives  at  the  result 
that  besides  the  sensuous  impressions  certain  a  priori  conceptions 
in  the  human  mind  —  as,  for  instance,  of  space,  and  time  —  are 
necessary  for  knowledge.  If  we  cannot  rise  by  means  of  pure 
reason  to  the  supersensuous,  KANT'S  "Criticism  of  practical  reason" 
(1788)  shows  us  the  way  in  which  this  demand  of  our  spiritual 
nature  also  is  satisfied.  Practical  reason  desires  the  suppression 
of  the  sensuous  man  by  means  of  the  reasonable  man,  which 
latter  gives  a  law  to  the  former;  but  this  law,  unlike  the  maxims 
of  prudence,  is  not  conditionated  upon  the  prospect  of  certain 
successes,  but  is  an  absolute,  the  only  absolute  commandment  — 
KANT  calls  it  the  categorical  imperative.  It  is  practical  reason 
also  that  leads  to  certain  claims ,  not  indeed  logically  demonstrable 
but  for  all  that  indispensable,  called  by  KANT  postulates.  As 
such  he  indicates  the  freedom  of  the  will,  because  the  will  must 
be  independent  of  natural  necessity  in  order  that  it  may  follow 
the  voice  of  the  categorical  imperative;  immortality,  because 
despite  the  imperfection  of  human  nature  the  possibility  of  a  con- 
tinual approach  to  the  condition  of  moral  perfection  must  be  as- 
sumed; finally  the  existence  of  God,  because  in  nature  there  is 
no  necessary  connection  between  morality  and  a  happiness  pro- 
portioned to  it,  and  the  realisation  of  this  agreement,  as  of  the 
highest  good,  must  be  guaranteed  by  a  being  having  on  the  one 
hand  absolute  power  over  nature,  whilst  on  the  other  hand  it  is 
influenced  simply  by  moral  impulses. 

KANT'S  techno! ocry,  contained  in  his  "Criticism  of  the  judicial 


INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC.  139 

faculty",  published  in  1 790,  is  concerned  with  the  Beautiful,  which 
we  estimate  by  taste,  by  means  of  the  feeling  of  pleasure  (the 
esthetic  judicial  faculty),  as  opposed  to  the  Congruous  inherent 
in  organic  nature,  which  we  judge  by  intellect  and  reason  (the 
teleological  judicial  faculty).  The  esthetic  judicial  faculty*  enables 
us  to  recognize  the  Beautiful  as  that  which  by  means  of  its 
form,  harmonizing  with  the  human  intellect,  excites  general  and 
necessary  pleasure;  the  Sublime  as  the  simply  Great,  which  evokes 
in  us  the  idea  of  the  Infinite  and  by  its  antagonism  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  senses  directly  pleases.  These  definitions,  as  also  that 
of  the  Beautiful  as  symbol  of  tlie  morally  Good,  were  farther  car- 
ried out  especially  by  SCHILLER  in  his  esthetic  treatises,  as  KANT'S 
Ethics  were  by  FICHTE.  In  the  warm,  enthusiastic  presentation 
of  these  two  men  the  Kantian  philosophy  soon  became  the  com- 
mon property  of  the  German  nation  and  caused  a  mighty  revo- 
lution in  all  provinces  of  the  intellectual  life.  Under  its  inspi- 
ration the  German  masters  of  musical  art  also  were  enabled,  with 
the  sole  aid  of  absolute  music  to  win  the  victory  over  Italian 
opera,  all-powerful  as  it  then  was  and  surrounded  by  the  other 
arts  as  vassals.  The  orchestral  instruments,  which  had  till  then 
amused  themselves  with  the  harmless  performance  of  suites,  di- 
vertissements, serenades,  etc.,  began  now,  united  in  the  symphony, 
to  speak  a  language  of  deepest  seriousness.  "HAYDN  was",  as 
RICHARD  WAGNER  says  in  his  "Zukunftsmusik"  (Music  of  the  fu- 
ture), "the  genial  master  that  first  developed  this  form  into  broader 
dimensions,  and  through  inexhaustible  variety  of  motives  and  of 


*  Etthetirx.  literally  the  science  of  the  sensuous  perceptions  and  feelings, 
in  a  narrower  sense  the  science  of  the  Beautiful  —  i.  «.,  the  Beautiful  in  art 
as  opposed  to  the  Beautiful  in  nature  —  owes  its  introduction  as  a  science  to 
the  philosopher  ALEXANDER  BAUMOARTEN,  whose  monograph  "Aesthetica"  (1750) 
gave  it  its  name.  Among  the  estheticians  of  antiquity  —  for  the  nature  ol 
the  Beautiful  and  of  art  has  of  course  been  at  all  times  a  subject  of  philo- 
sophical investigation  —  ARISTOTLE  claims  the  attention  of  the  musician 
especially,  in  so  far  m  he  allots  to  music  a  prominent  place  among  the  arts. 
All  art  attains  its  end,  the  ennoblement  of  the  mind  and  the  heart,  by  imita- 
tion (Mimesis),  yet  not  of  visible  nature  but  of  the  movements  of  the  human 
character  (Ethos)  and  soul  (Psyche),  which  movements  music  (as  ARISTOTLK 
explains  in  his  Tolitics",  Book  VIII,  chap.  5)  directly  represents,  whereas  the 
plastic  arts  can  only  give  through  forms  (Schemata)  certain  tignt  of  the  esthetic 
occurrences. 


140  INSTRUMENTAL  MUSIC. 

their  connections  and  exploitations  gave  it  a  deeply  expressive 
significance.  MOZART  had  recognized  the  charm,  previously  un- 
known to  the  German  masters,  of  Italian  song-melody,  and,  while 
he  introduced  into  Italian  opera  the  richer  development  of  the 
German  method  of  instrumental  composition,  imparted  in  turn  to 
the  orchestral  melody  the  full  euphony  of  the  Italian  song-method. 
Into  the  rich,  much-promising  heritage  of  both  these  masters 
BEETHOVEN  entered;  he  developed  the  symphonic  art-work  into 
so  fascinating  a  breadth  of  form,  and  filled  this  form  with  a  so 
extraordinarily  varied  and  captivating  melodic  content,  that  at  this 
day  we  stand  before  the  Beethovenian  symphony  as  before  the 
boundary-stone  of  a  quite  new  period  of  art-history  in  general; 
for  with  it  a  phenomenon  made  its  appearance  to  which  the  art 
of  no  other  period  and  no  other  nation  can  show  anything  even 
only  approximately  analogous.  Inasmuch  as  here  music  speaks 
a  language  that  with  its  free  and  bold  conformity  to  law  must 
seem  to  us  more  powerful  than  all  logic,  while  yet  rational  thought 
holding  on  to  the  clew  of  cause  and  effect  finds  here  no  foothold, 
BEETHOVEN'S  symphony  must  appear  to  us  directly  as  a  revela- 
tion from  another  world." 

It  is  easily  conceivable  that  in  consequence  of  so  unexpect- 
edly high  a  leap  of  instrumental  music,  the  musical  world  after 
BEETHOVEN  turned  to  cultivating  it  with  a  zeal  that  was  pushed 
to  one-sidedness.  Yet  it  was  not  granted  to  the  musical  Ro- 
manticists of  the  19th  century,  as  far  as  they  followed  after 
BEETHOVEN,  to  come  up  to  their  model,  much  less  to  surpass  it 
Only  those  composers  who  turned  their  attention  to  what  BEET- 
HOVEN had  neglected  —  the  opera  —  were  able  with  the  aid 
of  the  orchestral  means  bequeathed  by  him  to  help  this  art-species 
to  blossom  anew,  and  thus  also  to  protect  music  in  general  from 
tho  imminent  danger  of  stagnation. 


XL 

THE  ROMANTICISTS  OF  THE  19"  CENTURY. 


The  conception  "classical",  with  which  we  associate  the  idem 
of  a  cheerful,  naive,  peaceful  state  of  mind,  has  for  its  antithesis 
"romantic",  an  expression  applied  in  an  art-sense  to  a  period  when 
the  more  serious  part  of  humanity,  dissatisfied  with  the  existing 
state  of  things,  yearns  to  be  out  of  the  actual  world  and  strives 
after  remote,  obscurely  beheld  ideals.  Now,  it  is  true  that  this 
inclination  to  rise  above  prosy  reality  has  been  at  all  times  and 
everywhere  a  mark  of  intellectually  gifted  and  poetic  natures,  and 
accordingly  Romanticism  is  essentially  synonymous  with  poetry 
and  as  old  as  the  world  itself.  Yet  at  certain  times  and  among 
certain  peoples  the  romantic  impulse  manifests  itself  with  unusual 
power.  The  ancient  Greeks,  living  more  exteriorly  than  interiorly, 
scarcely  knew  it  and  certainly  did  not  foster  it;  the  son  of  the 
North,  on  the  contrary,  loved  to  descend  into  his  interior,  being 
already  admonished  by  the  prudery  and  harshness  of  his  climate 
to  build  for  himself  a  special  imaginary  world  in  place  of  the 
real  world  about  him.  Here  too,  however,  we  distinguish  between 
epochs  that  were  more  or  less  favorable  to  romanticism :  its  flow- 
ering-time coincides  with  the  periods  in  which  humanity,  after 
important  political  and  social  revolutions,  finds  the  attendant  dis- 
illusions specially  galling,  e.  g.,  the  centuries  after  the  collapse 
of  the  antique  world  with  its  rich  intellectual  culture,  and  in  later 
times  the  first  decennaries  of  our  century.  The  enthusiasm  kindled 
by  the  epoch  of  enlightenment  of  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT,  then  by 
the  French  revolution,  lastly  by  the  deliverance  of  Europe  from 
the  yoke  of  NAPOLEON,  necessarily  gave  way  to  profound  discour- 
agement and  insipidity  after  the  temporary  failure  of  all  these 
efforts  was  acknowledged,  and  thus  it  came  to  pass  that  then 
even  the  most  gifted  natures  turned  aside  hopelessly  from  what 


142  THE  ROMANTICISTS   OF   THE   19'"   CENTURY. 

was  to  them  the  insipid  reality,  to  betake  themselves  to  a  far 
distant  phantom-existence. 

When  this  intellectual  current  got  the  upper  hand  it  was 
unavoidable  that  art  should  be  forced  away  from  the  path  of 
development  trodden  in  the  century  that  had  elapsed,  and  that 
the  rich  artistic  harvest  of  that  period  should  again  be  called  in 
question.  Only  in  certain  directions  could  the  march  of  time, 
the  dawning  aspiration  after  unattainable  ideals  lead  to  positive 
achievements :  primarily  in  the  domain  of  lyric  poetry,  which  under 
the  influence  of  the  dominant  mood  was  just  now  experiencing 
a  significant  enlargement  of  its  sphere  of  action.  In  place  of  the 
general  subject-matter  with  which  the  lyric  poetry  of  the  preceding 
century  had  been  satisfied,  the  subjective  feelings  of  the  poet  now 
came  to  the  front,  and  the  essential  nature  of  lyric  poetry,  a  bound- 
less submersion  into  the  innermost  life  of  the  soul,  could  under 
these  circumstances  attain  full  prominence.  It  was  that  universal- 
ity of  subject-matter  that  had  hitherto  prevented  lyric  poetry  from 
accomplishing  its  true  mission,  i  e.,  from  operating,  as  it  had 
done  in  antiquity,  in  the  closest  conjunction  with  music.  Not 
without  success  had  JOHANN  FRIEDRICH  REICIIARDT  (from  177.0 
on  music-director  to  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT),  C.  F.  ZISLTER  (from 
1800  till  his  death  in  1832  director  of  the  Berlin  Academy  for 
Singing),  and  others  exerted  themselves  in  artistically  developing 
the  German  song.  For  the  reason  just  given,  however,  their  ef- 
forts did  not  avail  to  bring  about  a  substantial  progress,  and  even 
such  masters  as  MOZART  and  BEETHOVEN,  in  view  of  the  then 
state  of  lyric  poetry,  did  not  draw  from  the  latter  that  deep  in- 
spiration that  might  have  induced  them  to  interest  themselves 
fully  in  song- composition.  But  under  the  influence  of  romanti- 
cism subjective  lyric  poetry  was  enabled  to  find  new  forms  and 
richer  subject-matter;  it  put  forth  glorious  blossoms  that  notwith- 
standing their  dazzling  brilliancy  of  color  and  occasionally  strange 
odor,  never  denied  their  rise  from  the  very  depths  of  the  German 
heart.  At  the  same  time  too  the  tongue  of  music  was  loosed, 
so  that  the  long  desired  transformation  of  the  folk-song  into  the 
art-song  could  be  accomplished,  and  from  this  time  forth  the 
victory  of  the  German  song  over  the  Italian  bravura  air  was 
assured. 

The  difference  between  the  folk-song  and  the  art-song  is  es- 


THE  ROMANTICISTS  OP  THE   19™   CENTURY.  143 

sentially  this,  that  in  the  former  one  and  the  same  melody  an- 
swers for  each  strophe,  whereas  in  the  art-song  the  music  most 
closely  attaches  itself  to  the  poem  throughout  its  entire  course, 
regardless  of  the  strophical  divisions,  and  endeavors  to  illustrate 
its  subject-matter  even  in  the  smallest  particulars.  This  song- 
species*  is  farther  distinguished  from  the  popular  strop  hie  song 
by  its  accompaniment,  which  maintains  a  much  higher  degree  of 
independence,  sometimes  even  temporarily  supplying  the  place  of 
the  silent  voice.  In  the  folk-song,  on  the  contrary,  the  accom- 
paniment seems  to  grow  of  itself  out  of  the  melody,  whose  har- 
monic and  rhythmic  proportions  are  its  only  rule,  except  that  it 
may  by  breaking  (arpeggiating  the  chords  enliven  the  movement 
to  a  certain  extent.  Naturally,  the  German  song-poem  in  its  new 
form  disclosed  to  the  fantasy  of  the  composer  an  immense  sphere 
of  creation;  but  to  occupy  it  and  rule  it  with  genial  freedom  no 
one  was  found  worthier  than  FRANZ  SCHUBERT,  who  is  therefore 
rightly  honored  as  the  creator  of  the  German  art-song. 

Hardly  would  this  artistic  achievement  of  SCHUBERT'S  have 
so  perfectly  succeeded,  if  his  extraordinary  musical  talent  had  not 
been  accompanied  by  a  rare  natural  strength  and  simplicity,  if 
what  was  temperate  and  harmonious  in  his  artist-nature  had  not 
restrained  him  from  the  excesses  of  the  romantic  tendency,  from 
which  even  his  great  predecessor  BEETHOVEN  was  not  free.  That 
the  arbitrarinesses  in  which  the  latter  not  seldom  allowed  himself 
to  indulge  at  the  expense  of  beauty  were  little  to  SCHUBERT'S 
taste,  we  may  infer  from  the  following  passage  from  his  diary, 
written  on  the  day  of  SALIERI'S  jubilee,  after  the  pupils  of  the 
latter  had  arranged  a  performance  of  their  compositions :  It  must 
be  delightful  and  refreshing  for  the  artist  to  hear  in  the  compo- 
sitions of  his  pupils  simple  nature  with  its  expression,  free  from 
all  oddity,  such  as  is  now  dominant  with  most  musicians  and  for 
which  we  have  to  thank  one  of  our  greatest  German  artists  al- 
most exclusively;  from  that  oddity  that  mingles  without  distinction 
the  tragic  with  the  comic,  the  agreeable  with  the  repulsive,  the 

•  In  German  a  song  of  this  kind  is  called  durchcomponirt,  i.  «.,  com- 
posed throughout,  as  explained  above.  In  the  absence  of  a  better  substitute 
for  the  German  word  we  may  use  the  expression  "wholly-composed",  the  anti- 
thesis of  which  would  be  ws  trophic",  or  "strophic  ally-composed". 

(Translator.) 


144  THE  ROMANTICISTS  OF  THE   19™  CENTURY. 

heroic  with  yelling,  the  holiest  with  the  harlequin,  that  sets  men 
crazy  instead  of  melting  them  in  love,  provokes  them  to  laughter 
instead  of  lifting  them  up  to  God."  In  spite  of  this  divergent 
tendency  of  SCHUBERT'S,  in  regard  of  the  ideal  of  beauty,  from 
that  of  BEETHOVEN,  who  is  doubtless  here  meant*  by  "one  of  our 
greatest  German  artists",  he  was  filled  with  admiration  for  the 
older  master,  to  whose  imposing  artist-personality  he  had  from 
childhood  —  SCHUBERT  was  born  in  1797,  nearly  a  generation 
after  BEETHOVEN  —  looked  up  with  a  mixed  feeling  of  love  and 
awe.  And  when  he  died  (1828)  of  nervous  fever  at  the  age  of 
hardly  thirty-two  years,  his  last  words  were:  "BEETHOVEN  is  not 
here";  which  led  his  relatives  to  bury  him  in  the  vicinity  of  his 
great  predecessor.  More  than  all  this,  however,  SCHUBERT'S  com- 
positions for  orchestral  and  chamber-music  attest  his  intellectual 
fellowship  with  BEETHOVEN,  for,  not  to  deny  his  inclination  to 
elegance  and  pure  beauty,  he  was  able  to  approach  the  master 
who  was  unattainable  in  these  departments  more  closely  than  any 
one  of  his  contemporaries  or  successors. 

And  yet  it  was  not  granted  to  SCHUBERT  to  find  for  a  single 
one  of  his  larger  instrumental  works,  except  his  jE'-flat  trio,  re- 
cognition during  his  life-time.  The  short  duration  of  his  artistic 
career,  the  immediate  and  overpowering  nearness  of  BEETHOVEN, 
whose  works  took  up  just  then  the  entire  and  eager  attention 
of  the  more  seriously  active  friends  of  music,  while  on  the  other 
hand  the  ROSSINI  opera  held  the  great  public  in  its  fetters,  — 
these  are  the  reasons  why  SCHUBERT  did  not  find  the  merited 
universal  appreciation  until  considerable  time  after  his  death.  It 
was  only  as  song-composer  that  he  was  celebrated  by  his  con- 
temporaries, especially  after  his  intimate  friend  the  singer  VOGL, 
of  the  Eoyal  Opera,  Vienna,  had  introduced  to  the  public  his 
"Erl-king"  in  the  year  1821  —  not  till  five  full  years  after  it  had 
been  composed!  This  song  made  SCHUBERT'S  name  known  through- 
out all  Germany,  yet  even  then  the  demand  for  other  songs  of 
his  was  in  no  proportion  to  his  productive  power.  Scarcely  the 

*  SCHUBERT  may  here  have  had  in  view  the  A-major  symphony  with  its 
sublime  allegretto  and  its  wantonly  blustering  Jinale;  or  also  that  passage  in 
the  finale  of  the  .F-major  symphony  (No.  8),  where  the  amiable  trifling  in 
pianissimo  in  C-major  is  unexpectedly  interrupted  by  a  fortissimo  JD-flat  in 
all  the  instruments. 


THE  ROMANTICISTS  OF  THE   19™  CEXTUHT.  145 

eixth  part  of  those  songs  of  SCHUBERT  that  are  now  known  were 
published  during  his  life-time,  although  he  did  not  write  one  that 
did  mot  bear  the  stamp  of  genius,  even  allowing  that  the  rich- 
ness of  his  fancy  occasionally  led  him  beyond  artistic  limits  and 
that  the  choice  of  his  texts  was  not  always  happy.*  The  song- 
composers  who  came  after  him,  MENDELSSOHN,  SCHUMANN  and 
ROBERT  FRANZ,  proceeded  more  critically  in  many  respects;  be- 
sides, the  incomparably  richer  development  of  the  lyric  poetry  of 
their  time  enabled  them  to  improve  the  species  in  certain  direc- 
tions. But  neither  the  polished  form  of  the  MENDELSSOHN  song 
nor  the  depth  of  thought  of  that  of  SCHUMANN  can  outweigh  the 
unaffected  power  and  inexhaustible  melodiousness  of  the  SCHUBERT 
song.  ROBERT  FRANZ  alone,  in  whose  songs  an  unusual  artistic 
formative  power  is  combined  with  the  purest  naturalness  of  feel- 
ing, seems  called  to  make  up  fully  for  SCHUBERT'S  loss,  and  may 
even  now,  though  still  living,  be  designated  his  lawful  heir. 

The  peculiarity  and  significance  of  the  FRANZ  song  consist 
primarily  in  its  affinity  to  the  older  German  folk-song  and  the 
protestant  choral  derived  from  the  same  source.  With  the  latter 
especially  FRANZ  familiarized  himself  from  his  youth  up,  and  in 
uninterrupted  diligent  intercourse  with  the  works  of  HANDEL  and 
BACH,  particularly  with  the  chorals  of  the  latter,  he  acquired  for 
his  own  constructive  work  that  quiet  strength  that  preserved  him 
from  the  romantic  unrest  dominating  the  world  during  the  years 
of  his  development.  Just  as  the  protestant  choral,  with  the  har- 
monic richness  conditionated  by  its  melody  was  employed  by  the 
masters  last  mentioned  for  the  grandest  contrapuntal  creations, 
so  too  FRANZ'S  melody  step  by  step  contains  a  latent  harmony 
and  may  therefore  be  called  in  the  strictest  sense  polyphonic.  It 
is  to  the  influence  of  the  old  German  song  and  the  compositions 
of  BACH  and  HANDEL  that  FRANZ'S  treatment  of  harmony  also 
may  be  traced.  For,  while  adhering  in  the  main  to  the  modern 
tonal  system  —  the  major  and  the  minor  scale  —  yet  in  many 
of  his  songs,  especially  those  whose  texts  are  of  the  popular 

*  This  especially  at  the  beginning  of  his  career  as  song-composer.  After- 
wards he  showed  partiality  for  GOETHE'S  lyric  poems,  yet  the  poet  does  not 
appear  to  have  reciprocated  his  partiality,  for,  though  he  had  frequent  occa- 
sion to  hear  those  songs  of  SCHUBERT  well  executed,  he  makes  no  mention 
of  the  composer's  name  in  any  of  his  writings. 

10 


1  Jg  THE  ROMANTICISTS   OF  THE   19™   CENTURY. 

order,  he  goes  back  to  the  old  church-modes  and  makes  use  of 
their  characteristic  tone-material.  Thus  he  has  as  it  were  re- 
discovered for  modern  music  this  almost  forgotten  tone-world  and 
herewith  brought  to  the  former  an  extremely  rich  and  significant 
element  of  expression.  Rhythm  is  with  FRANZ,  in  accordance  with 
the  intimate  blending  of  tone  with  language  aimed  at  and  at- 
tained by  him,  of  uncommon  variety,  yet  utterly  without  affecta- 
tion. The  pianoforte  accompaniment  also  is,  for  all  its  import- 
ance, never  an  impediment  to  the  rhythmical  flow  of  the  vocal 
part;  it  illustrates  the  cantilena  not  from  without  only,  but  sprouts 
forth  from  it  with  inner  necessity,  and  is  in  the  same  organic 
relationship  to  it  as  that  by  which  the  accompaniment  in  FRANZ'S 
edition  of  BACH'S  and  HANDEL'S  vocal  works  is  distinguished  from 
the  purely  chordal  treatment*  of  the  figured  bass-part.  In  con- 
centrating his  entire  strength  upon  song-composition  FRANZ  was 
actuated  by  a  correct  perception  of  his  decidedly  lyrically  and 
contemplatively  disposed  nature.  The  latter  also  exercised  a  de- 
terminative influence  upon  the  manner  in  which  he  conceives  and 
treats  the  poetic  matter  of  his  songs,  toning  town  the  excesses  of 
passionate  moods  and  reducing  them  to  measurable  quietness.  In 
this  respect  likewise  he  approaches  the  ancient  German  lyric  muse ; 
for  though  "world- woe",  as  the  characteristic  mark  of  all  modern 
lyric  poetry,  finds  expression  in  his  melodies,  yet  it  appears  free 
from  every  uncouth  distortion  or  morbid  self-contemplation,  rather 
a  pure  and  true  expression  of  the  deep  yearning  after  the  ideal 
that  penetrates  every  human  heart. 

Like  lyric,  so  also  dramatic  music  attained  under  the  influence 
of  romantic  poetry  to  a  new  stage  of  development.  It  is  true 
that  the  opera  had  through  GLUCK  and  MOZART  been  so  enriched 
musically  that  any  increase  of  its  possessions  in  this  regard  could 
hardly  be  thought  of.  But  on  the  other  hand,  from  the  side  of 
the  poetic  contents  and  the  form  of  the  libretto  the  need  of  an 
improvement  of  this  art-species  also  began  to  be  felt  in  propor- 
tion as  romanticism  in  poetry  gained  in  importance.  For  the  rise 

*  That  is,  the  mere  translation  of  the  figured  basses  into  the  correspond- 
ing harmonies  or  chords,  after  the  old  manner  before  accompaniments  were 
written  out  in  fulL  The  old  method  had  of  course  its  disadvantages  —  for 
the  accompaniment  itself;  but  at  least  it  implied  that  the  accompanist  should 
be  a  harmonist,  not  merely  an  executant.  Translator. 


THE  ROMANTICISTS  OF  THE   19™  CENTURY.  147 

and  development  of  romaiitic  opera  Germany  proved  to  be  a  spe- 
cially favorable  soil,  by  reason  of  the  inclination  and  ability  in- 
herent in  the  German  character  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  things, 
to  listen  intelligently  to  the  revelations  of  nature ,  and  to  fly  on 
wings  of  fancy  to  the  remotest  times  and  regions.  Moreover  the 
feeling  of  nationality  that  in  consequence  of  the  War  of  Deliver- 
ance had  broken  out  among  the  majority  of  Germans  could  be 
better  satisfied  with  romantic  opera  than  with  the  previous  one, 
because  the  former  was  forced  by  its  subject-matter,  mostly  taken 
from  German  popular  tradition,  to  the  cultivation  of  a  national 
coloring  of  both  poetry  and  music.  Here  indeed  there  was  im- 
minent danger,  for  both  arts,  of  losing  the  artistic  equilibrium 
in  the  conflict  of  the  world  of  fancy  with  reality,  and  of  giving 
up  too  much  to  the  subjective-imaginary.  Yet  it  was  precisely 
music  that  was  enabled  to  settle  this  dispute  by  sharp  delineation 
of  characters  and  faithful  picturing  of  situations,  and  having  been 
required  to  enlarge  its  technical  means  in  order  to  the  attainment 
of  this  end,  it  has  to  thank  romantic  opera  for  an  enrichment 
which  subsequently  turned  to  its  advantage  in  other  depart- 
ments also. 

LUDWIG  SPOHR  (1784—1859),  CARL  MARIA  VON  WEBER  (1786 
— 1826)  and  HEINRICH  MARSCHNER  (1795 — 1S61)  became  the  musi- 
cal interpreters  of  the  moods  and  inclinations  above  mentioned 
as  slumbering  in  the  German  nation.  SPOHU,  superior  as  musi- 
cian to  both  his  rivals,  as  his  numerous  and  solid  instrumental 
works  attest,  shows  himself  in  the  dramatic  line  as  the  weakest 
of  them.  His  tendency  to  hyper-sentimentality  and  elegiac  pathos 
prevented  him  from  consistently  working  out  his  characters,  and 
it  is  only  where  there  is  question  of  describing  situations  and 
incidents  analogous  to  his  very  limited  sensationary  method,  as, 
e.  g.,  in  his  "Jessonda"  (first  performed  in  1823),  that  he  is  able 
to  produce  dramatic  as  well  as  musical  effect.  Far  superior  tc 
him  as  dramatic  composer  is  MARSCHNER,  a  master  in  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  unearthly  and  demoniacal  (e.  g.,  in  The  Vam- 
pyre",  1828),  as  also  in  the  delineation  of  plebeian  and  comic 
characters.  In  this  MARSCHXER  is  not  equalled  even  by  WEBER; 
with  the  latter  it  was  the  universality  of  artistic  talent  that,  with- 
out prejudice  to  his  German  nature,  gave  his  music  so  quickening 
a  power  that  it  aroused  enthusiastic  admiration  not  only  in  the 


148  THE  ROMANTICISTS  OF  THE  19™  CENTURY. 

composer's  native  land,  but  —  which  was  not  the  case  with  either 
SPOHR'S  or  MARSCHNER'S  music  —  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
Germany. 

Not  only  the  artistic  achievements  of  WEBER,  but  his  life- 
experiences  also  demand  our  full  sympathy.  A  wandering  life 
from  childhood  on,  necessitated  by  the  circumstances  of  his  father, 
a  theatre-director,  and  the  consequent  unsystematic  instruction, 
could  not  detract  from  the  ardor  of  his  artistic  endeavors,  any 
more  than  did  his  successes  as  pianoforte-virtuoso  in  his  boyhood 
and  adolescence.  While  yet  in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  after  he 
had  written  his  first  opera  "Das  Waldmadchen"  (The  forest  Mai- 
den, afterwards  re-constructed  as  "Sylvana"),  and  filled  a  music- 
directorship,  he  received  instruction  from  Abbe  VOGLER,  in  order 
to  make  up  by  serious  studies  in  composition  for  what  he  had 
lost  before.  He  attained  to  the  full  development  of  his  power  in 
1813  as  music-director,  at  a  theatre  in  Prague,  yet  without  find- 
ing here  perfect  satisfaction,  especially  because  his  strong  national 
feeling  found  on  the  non-German  soil  only  insufficient  nourish- 
ment. Berlin,  the  starting-point  of  the  efforts  of  German  patriot- 
ism, which  WEBER  had  artistically  glorified  in  his  settings  of 
KORNER'S  Songs  of  Freedom,  "Leier  und  Schwert",  —  Berlin  would 
have  been  the  sphere  of  his  activity  quite  in  accordance  with  his 
wishes,  if  it  had  not  been  that  here,  just  at  this  time  —  strange 
anachronism!  —  the  musical  herald  of  the  conquered  French  em- 
peror, SPONTINI,  had  by  direction  of  FREDERICK  WILLIAM  III 
entered  upon  the  management  of  operatic  affairs  in  general.  A 
call  to  the  newly-established  German  opera  in  Dresden  could  only 
partially  indemnify  the  master  for  the  failure  of  his  Berlin  plans, 
for,  among  other  annoyances,  he  had  to  put  up  with  many  hin- 
drances to  his  exertions  through  the  rivalry  of  the  Italian  opera, 
still  in  high  favor  at  court,  and  of  its  music-director  MORLACCHI. 
This  explains  why  he  did  not  succeed  even  in  bringing  out  his 
masterpiece  "Der  Freischutz"  at  the  place  of  his  personal  activity. 
It  was  Berlin  that  through  the  first  performance  of  "Der  Frei- 
schutz'' (1821)  paid  the  German  master  a  debt  of  honor,  so  to 
speak,  and  at  the  same  time  became  the  theatre  of  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  triumphs  of  German  music.  For  German  opera 
had  not  only,  with  this  work,  entered  into  its  full  rights,  it  had 
also  gained  a  victory  over  Italian  opera  in  no  wise  less  important 


THE  KOMANTICI8T8  OP  THE   19™  CENTUKT.  149 

than  the  one  achieved  forty  years  before  in  Paris  by  GLUCK,  for 
henceforth  in  the  Prussian  capital  the  foreign  musical  supremacy 
was  destroyed,  the  success  of  the  "Freischfltz"  had  put  an  end 
to  the  belief  in  SPONTINI'S  musical  infallibility. 

In  the  "Freischtitz",  which  depicts  in  tones  the  true  love  of 
chaste  and  sincere  young  hearts,  and  at  the  same  time  the  de- 
moniac powers  by  which  man  is  ensnared,  all  this  on  the  sub- 
soil of  romantic  forest-life,  WEBER  created  a  work  of  art  whose 
popularity  can  hardly  at  any  time  be  excelled. 

The  farther  course  of  the  romantic  tendency  exhibited  by 
German  music  shows  us  two  musicians  who  are  through  their 
creations  so  near  to  the  present,  and  have  found  in  our  day  so 
complete  a  recognition,  that  it  will  suffice  here  to  characterize 
their  attitude  towards  musical  development  in  general.  FELIX 
MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY  (1800 — 1847)  and  ROBERT  SCHUMANN 
(1810 — 1856)  are  the  chief  representatives  of  that  school  whose 
aim  is  the  progressive  cultivation  of  instrumental  music  on  the 
basis  of  BEETHOVEN'S  legacy.  To  surpass  BEETHOVEN  in  produc- 
tions of  this  kind  we  have  already  declared  to  be  impossible,  yet 
it  was  not  denied  to  the  two  masters  above  named  to  extend  in 
certain  directions  the  expressional  sphere  of  instrumental  music 
Thus  MENDELSSOHN  excelled,  in  faithfully  painting  nature  by  tones, 
not  BEETHOVEN  only  but  WEBER  also,  as  e.  g.  in  his  overture 
"Meeresstille  und  gluckliche  Fahrt"  (Calm  sea  and  happy  voyage), 
and  even  undertook  to  bring  to  view  rural  pictures  entirely  by 
orchestral  means,  as  in  the  overture  "Die  Hebriden"  (The  Hebri- 
des) and  the  symphonies  in  ^4-major  and  a-minor,  which  have  a 
double  right  to  their  surnames  "the  Italian"  and  "the  Scotch", 
since  they  mirror  in  their  music,  besides  the  national  character, 
also  the  landscape-scenery  of  these  countries,  as  personally  ob- 
served by  the  composer  on  his  travels.  In  mastering  large,  broadly 
developed  forms  SCHUMANN  proves  to  be  the  more  highly  gifted, 
surpassing  MENDELSSOHN  in  depth  of  thought  also,  so  that  with 
his  symphonies  and  chamber-compositions,  perfect  in  form  and 
full  of  the  charm  of  romanticism,  he  may  stand  at  the  head  oi 
the  representatives  of  post-beethovenian  instrumental  music. 

We  may  not,  however,  look  for  the  centre  of  gravity  of  his 
achievements,  nor  of  MENDELSSOHN'S  either,  in  orchestral  music 
or  in  the  large  forms  generally.  The  thoroughly  subjective  nature 


150  THE  ROMANTICISTS  OF  THE   19™  CENTURY. 

of  both  artists,  which  in  SCHUMANN'S  case  even  led  him  towards 
the  end  of  his  career  to  obstinately  wrap  himself  up  in  the  per- 
sonal sphere  of  feeling  and  thought,  induced  them  to  work  by 
preference  in  the  small  and  smallest  forms,  those  in  which  the 
transitory  moods  of  the  individual  man  are,  so  to  speak,  instantane- 
ously photographed  into  an  art- work,  as  in  the  song,  and  still 
more  in  the  art-species  invented  by  MENDELSSOHN,  the  "Lied  ohne 
Worte"  (Song  without  words)  for  the  pianoforte,  in  which  the 
composer  may  follow  the  momentary  inspirations  with  incompar- 
ably greater  liberty  than  in  the  vocal  song,  being  free  from  the 
restraints  of  words  and  prosody.  In  this  species  of  mood-pictures 
both  MENDELSSOHN  and  SCHUMANN  have  produced  important  works, 
the  latter  in  his  "Kinderscenen",  "Noveletten",  etc. ;  yet  music  here 
ran  the  risk  of  losing  itself  too  much  in  the  individual  and  of 
suffering  a  loss  of  its  universally  available  power.  MENDELSSOHN'S 
subjectivity  found  a  salutary  counterpoise  in  his  attachment  to 
BACH  and  HANDEL  (we  have  already  seen,  in  speaking  of  his  ora- 
torios, how  favorably  his  workmanship  was  affected  by  his  study 
of  the  works  of  those  masters).  SCHUMANN  on  the  other  hand 
allowed  the  subjective  mood  and  the  romantic  longing  to  have  so 
boundless  a  control,  especially  in  his  pianoforte-works,  that  HER- 
DER'S previously  quoted  observation  (see  p.  11)  on  the  danger  of 
separating  instrumental  from  vocal  music  here  finds  confirmation; 
for  in  fact  SCHUMANN'S  pianoforte  music  not  seldom  "transplants 
us  into  a  realm  of  obscure  ideas,  and  awakens  feelings  which  in 
the  torrent  of  artificial  tones  without  words  find  no  leader."  From 
what  has  been  said  it  is  self-evident  that  neither  MENDELSSOHN 
nor  SCHUMANN  had  special  talent  for  dramatic  music,  for  this 
branch  is  conditionated  by  the  artist's  ability  to  objectivate  him- 
self, to  bring  his  own  individuality  into  conformity  with  the  outer 
world,  and  to  make  his  creations  appear  as  if  detached  from  his 
person.  The  fragments  left  behind  by  MENDELSSOHN  of  the  opera 
"Loreley"  cannot  fail,  despite  their  great  musical  value,  to  strike 
the  hearer  as  being  adapted  for  the  concert-room,  not  for  the 
theatre,  and  SCHUMANN'S  opera  "Genoveva",  which  the  Leipsic 
critic  J.  C.  LOBE  not  inappropriately  called  a  large  wholly-com- 
posed* song,  could  in  consequence  of  a  lack  of  dramatic  vigor 

*  See  Note,  p.  1-13. 


THE  ROMANTICISTS  OF  THE   19™   CENTURY.  151 

lead  only  a  sham  existence,  after  repeated  trials  at  different  German 
theatres. 

Not  less  luxuriantly  than  in  Germany  did  romanticism  develop 
itself  among  the  French,  especially  after  VICTOR  HUGO  had  in 
the  thirties  of  our  century  stepped  forward  as  poetic  champion  of 
the  romantic  ideas.  The  musical  representatives  of  these  ideas, 
HECTOR  BERLIOZ  (18U3— 18G9)  and  FRANZ  LISZT  (born  1811),  can 
however  hardly  be  accounted  French  musicians  (the  latter  cannot 
because  of  his  Hungarian  nationality);  for  as  they  found  in  in- 
strumental music  the  tone-material  corresponding  to  their  creative 
artistic  impulse,  they  were  consequently  obliged  to  seek  their 
point  of  support  among  the  German  masters  of  instrumental  com- 
position. With  their  profound  reverence  for  BEETHOVEN,  however, 
which  LISZT  especially  could  attest,  having  placed  his  incredible 
powers  as  pianoforte-virtuoso  at  the  service  of  the  master,  it  was 
difficult  for  them  to  avoid  the  rock  on  which  part  of  their  German 
art- associates  had  been  shipwrecked,  in  so  far  as  these  had  gone 
on  building  up  on  the  basis  of  the  Beethovenian  instrumental 
music.  Yet  both  were  enabled  to  escape  this  danger  by  entering 
into  a  happy  alliance  with  poetry  and  taking  the  latter  as  their 
pilot  on  their  voyage  through  the  stormy  sea  of  tones.  They 
chose  a  determinate  poetical  material  as  the  basis  of  their  in- 
strumental works,  that  by  it  they  might  be  stimulated  to  com- 
position though  without  restraint  upon  their  freedom,  and  thus 
became  the  creators  of  the  so-called  Program-music.  This  path 
tali  en  by  BERLIOZ  and  more  decidedly  by  LISZT  in  his  "Symphonic 
poems"  has  often  been  designated  a  false  one,  and  even  so  re- 
solute a  champion  of  artistic  progress  as  RICHARD  WAGNER  at 
first  repudiated  program-music  as  "an  egotistic  endeavor  of  the 
separate  arts  to  communicate  a  purport  lying  outside  of  their 
sphere  and  unattainable  by  their  own  means".  Later  on,  how-1 
ever,  he  changed  his  opinion,  because  —  as  he  says  in  his  mo- 
nograph "On  FRANZ  LISZT'S  symphonic  poems"  -  he  had  mean- 
while come  to  understand  "that  program-music  does  not  aim  to 
override  speech  or  the  plastic  arts  and  represent  things  accessible 
to  them  only,  but  rather  forms  a  special  kind  of  union  of  two 
independent  factors :  poetry  and  music."  Granting,  now,  that  this 
union  of  audible  music  with  poetry  that  operates  solely  in  the 
mind  of  tli«-  hearer  is  but  an  extremely  loose  and  imperfect  one, 


152  THE  ROMANTICISTS  OF  THE   19™  CENTUET. 

and  that  the  cooperation  of  both  arts  during  the  art-enjoyment 
itself  is  difficult  to  prove,  yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  poetry 
even  in  this  case  affords  the  creative  master  a  prop  during  the 
development  of  his  thoughts  and  leads  him  to  the  invention  of 
new  forms,  while  to  the  hearer  it  materially  facilitates  the  under- 
standing of  the  musical  art-work.* 

The  characteristic  note  of  the  musical  romanticists  of  France, 
that  union  of  the  art-spirit  of  diverse  nationalities,  is  seen  most 
plainly  in  FREDERIC  CHOPIN.  Born  of  French-Polish  parents  in 
1809  near  Warsaw,  and  ripened  into  an  artist  amid  intimate 
mental  intercourse  with  the  German  instrumental  masters,  he 
could  build  up  on  the  basis  of  the  sensationary  method  of  three 
nations  blended  in  him,  a  tone-realm  of  his  own  in  which  he 
exercised  unlimited  sovereignty.  The  chivalrous  feeling  and  the 
historic  sorrow  of  the  Pole,  the  easy  elegance  and  gracefulness 
of  the  Frenchman,  the  romantic  profundity  of  the  German  are 
united  in  CHOPIN  into  a  total  of  such  originality  that  his  music, 
though  conceived  for  the  pianoforte  solely,  has  extended  its  fruc- 
tifying effects  beyond  the  sphere  of  that  instrument.  Few  com- 
posers have  found  at  the  beginning  of  their  career  so  little  re- 
cognition as  he  did,  yet  he  soon  succeeded  by  his  own  strength 
in  gaining  a  position  far  overtopping  that  of  his  rivals,  and  his 
creative  genius  took  afterwards,  despite  bodily  sufferings,  so  power- 
ful a  flight  that  he  wfcs  able  at  his  early  death  (1 849)  to  bequeath 
to  the  musical  world  a  heritage  of  inexhaustible  riches. 

The  faculty,  grounded  in  the  nature  of  the  pianoforte  and 
raised  by  CHOPIN  and  LISZT  to  a  surprising  height,  of  embracing 


*  Program-music  misses  its  aim  only  when  it  undertakes  to  represent  con- 
crete feelings  and  determinate  incidents,  as,  e.  g.,  when  FROBERGER  (17th  centu- 
ry) endeavors  to  describe  the  adventures  of  a  trip  on  the  Rhine  in  a  piano- 
forte suite,  "in  which  is  represented  among  other  things  how  one  of  the  party 
hands  the  boatman  his  sword,  and  in  so  doing  falls  into  the  water",  —  and 
K.UHNAU,  in  his  "Musical  representation  of  some  biblical  histories  in  six  so- 
natas for  the  pianoforte",  pretends  to  illustrate  musically  JACOB'S  deception  of 
Laban.  Under  this  head  comes  also  SEBASTIAN  BACH'S  Capriccio  on  the  de- 
parture of  his  brother,  with  the  "representation  of  diverse  accidents  that  might 
happen  to  him  abroad",  and  finally,  BEETHOVEN'S  "Battle  of  Vittoria",  and  his 
imitation  of  the  singing  of  birds  in  the  second  movement  of  the  "Pastoral" 
symphony,  though  this  work  may  for  the  rest  be  reckoned  as  program-music 
in  the  best  sense  of  the  word. 


THE  ROMANTICISTS  OF  THE   19™   CENTUKT.  153 

in  itself  alone  the  entire  expressional  sphere  of  music,  and  serv- 
ing as  the  organ  of  the  sensations  of  the  individual  in  their  wid- 
est extent  and  independently  of  every  foreign  cooperation  —  this 
faculty  enables  us  to  recognize  the  preponderance  of  the  piano- 
forte in  modern  times  over  the  other  instruments,  as  a  phenomenon 
essentially  conditioned  by  the  romanticism  of  the  19tb  century, 
notwithstanding  that  the  origin  of  modern  pianoforte-playing 
reaches  back  to  the  classical  epoch  of  the  preceding  century.  The 
fathers  of  modern  pianism  are  MOZART,  who  had  inherited  the 
traditions  of  J.  S.  BACH  transmitted  by  EMMANUEL  BACH,  and 
Muzio  CLEMEXTI  (born  at  Rome  in  1752,  died  at  London  in  1832), 
who  was  not  behind  MOZART  in  thoroughness,  and  in  elegance  of 
playing  even  surpassed  him.  These  masters  became  the  heads  of 
two  schools,  which  we  may  designate  as  the  Vienna  school  and 
the  London  school,  and  of  these  it  was,  strange  to  say,  the  former 
in  which  virtuosity  first  gained  the  upper  hand  over  the  strict 
serious  style.  MOZART'S  pupil  JOHANN  NEPOMUK  HUMMEL  (1778 
—1837)  is  in  fact  the  representative  of  the  new  tendency,  which, 
while  thorough,  at  the  same  time  does  not  despise  brilliancy  and 
dash.  In  the  twenties  of  our  century  CARL  CZERNY  (1791 — 18">7) 
became  the  head  of  the  Vienna  school,  from  which  thenceforth  a 
great  number  of  virtuosi  came,  in  whose  performances  was  pro- 
minently manifested  the  endeavor  to  astonish  by  finger- dexterity 
at  the  expense  of  the  musical  subject-matter.  On  the  appearance, 
next,  of  the  three  most  eminent  pupils  of  CZERNY  —  FRANZ  LISZT 
(born  1811),  SIGISMUND  THALBERG  1812 — 1871)  and  THEODOB 
KULLAK  (born  1818),  pianoforte-playing  again  took  for  its  aim 
the  solution  of  higher  art-problems.  Of  these,  LISZT  and  KULLAK 
especially  have  leaned  upon  BEETHOVEN,  entering  into  the  spirit 
of  this  master,  who  stands  alone  also  in  his  treatment  of  the 
pianoforte,  and  awakening  the  understanding  of  his  artistic  reve- 
lations that  was  still  slumbering  in  more  distant  circles,  while 
THALBERG  by  the  cultivation  of  a  particular  side  of  pianoforte 
technics  —  cantalilc  playing  —  enlarged  the  expressional  capacity 
of  the  instrument  in  accordance  with  the  new  demands. 

The  London  school  of  CLEMENTI  was  continued  by  his  pupil 
J.  B.  CRAMER  (1771 — 185S),  who  acquired  principally  through  the 
study  of  the  works  of  BACH  and  HANDEL  that  mastery  in  piano- 
forte composition  that  we  admire  in  his  famous  "Studies".  Other 


154  THE  ROMANTICISTS  OF  THE  19™  CENTUEY. 

notable  pupils  of  CLEMENTI  are  LUDWIG  BERGER  (1777 — 1839), 
MENDELSSOHN'S  teacher,  and  JOHN  FIELD  (17»2— 1837),  famous 
for  his  Nocturns,  closely  akin  to  those  of  CHOPIN.  —  A  third 
school  of  pianoforte-playing,  originated  in  Prague  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  century,  directed  at  first  by  DIONYS  WEBER  then 
by  TOMASCHEK,  found  in  the  pupil  of  the  former,  IGNAZ  MOSCHE- 
LES  (1794 — 18 <0),  its  chief  representative,  who,  like  C.  M.  VON 
WEBER  and  MENDELSSOHN,  took  a  direction  as  player  and  com- 
poser in  which  brilliant  technics  and  intellectual  depth  prevail 
throughout.  On  French  soil  the  artistic  feeling  for  the  pianoforte 
that  was  formerly  so  richly  developed  seems  to  have  disappeared 
for  a  considerable  time,  for  among  the  pianists  that  excelled  there 
after  KAMEAUS  death  not  one  of  prominent  distinction  is  found. 
Not  till  the  appointment  of  Louis  ADAM  as  teacher  at  the  Paris 
Conservatory  does  French  pianoforte-playing  begin  to  lift  itself 
up  again,  and  soon  afterward  ADAM'S  pupil,  FRIEDRICH  KALK- 
BRENNER  (1778 — 1849),  could  claim  the  attention  of  the  whole 
world  by  his  playing  and  his  compositions,  although  he  by  no 
means  followed  strict  artistic  maxims,  but  rather,  in  union  with 
his  younger  contemporary,  HENRI  HERZ,  became  the  author  of  the 
shallow  drawing-room  music  that  exclusively  captivated  the  great 
public  for  several  decennaries.  Over  against  them  there  was  how- 
ever no  lack  of  artists  in  Paris  also  that  extended  the  cultivation 
of  pianoforte-playing  in  the  spirit  of  the  classical  masters,  at  their 
head  HENRI  BERTINI  (1798 — 1876),  basing  himself  on  CLEMENTI'S 
school  and  honorably  known  by  his  "Studies",  which  in  pedagogic 
value  are  hardly  below  those  of  CRAMER;  moreover,  ZIMMERMAXN 
and  STAMATY,  to  whom  the  present  French  generation  of  pianists 
owes  its  development,  ALKAN  (senior/  and  LACOMBE  to  the  former, 
to  the  latter  SAINT-SAENS  and  others. 

As  the  spread  of  pianoforte-playing  increased  from  year  to 
year  it  was  unavoidable  that  the  other  instruments  should  fall  by 
degrees  into  the  background,  and  that  the  public  interest  in  them 
should  more  and  more  decrease.  Even  the  violin  had  to  yield  up 
the  brilliant  position  it  had  held  during  the  second  half  of  the 
18th  century,  especially  in  Italy,  where  the  schools  of  CORELLI 
(Rome',  VIVALDI  (Venice1  and  TARTINI  ;Padua  had  fostered  clas- 
sical violin-playing  and  by  means  of  their  pupils  propagated  it 
over  all  Europe.  Nevertheless  it  blossomed  anew  even  in  this 


THE  ROMANTICISTS  OP  THE   19™  CENTUKY.  155 

century  in  the  French  violinist-school  founded  by  Viom,  a  de- 
scendant of  TARTINI'S  school,  the  representatives  of  which  former, 
KODE,  KREUTZER  and  BAILLOT  may  claim,  as  virtuosos  and  com- 
posers, but  especially  as  authors  of  the  celebrated  "Methode  de 
Violon"  Paris,  1803  ,  a  high  rank  among  the  patrons  of  this  in- 
strument. Afterwards  Belgium  became  the  theatre  of  the  develop- 
ment of  violin-playing,  where  DE  BERIOT  and  his  pupil  VIEUX- 
T;:MPS  presided  over  a  school  that  aimed  at  the  cultivation  of 
brilliant  technics,  yet  without  losing  sight  of  the  exemplars  of 
classical  times.  While  the  Italian  violin-school,  formerly  so  in- 
fluential, had  in  the  meantime  lost  all  importance  —  for  even 
the  genial  PAGANINI  was  unable  to  exert  a  fructifying  influence 
on  the  slumbering  productive  power  of  his  native  country  —  in 
Germany  a  school  was  called  into  life  by  Louis  SPOHR,  that  with 
the  same  success  as  the  French  school  of  VIOTTI  preserved  and 
farther  developed  the  valuable  acquisitions  of  the  older  Italians. 
SPOHR'S  merits  with  regard  to  the  violin,  both  as  virtuoso  and  as 
composer  and  teacher,  transcend  those  that  he  gained  in  regard 
of  romantic  opera.  In  the  former  capacity  he  aroused  universal 
admiration  side  by  side  with  PAGANINI,  whom  he  met  in  Italy 
during  the  winter  1816—17.  In  his  numerous  violin  compositions 
the  noble  and  tender  feeling  predominates  throughout  that  char- 
acterizes his  dramatic  works  also,  and  with  it  the  finest  sense  of 
the  technical  peculiarities  of  the  instrument.  As  teacher  he  in- 
fluenced the  whole  of  violin-playing  Germany,  in  part  personally, 
partly  through  his  excellent  "Violin  School",  published  in  1631, 
finally  also  through  his  pupils,  of  whom  his  biographer  ALEXANDER 
MALIBRAN  names  no  fewer  than  one  hundred  and  eighty  seven. 
Among  these  FERDINAND  DAVID  distinguished  himself  by  his  com- 
prehensive activity  at  the  Leipsic  Conservatory,  to  which  he  was 
attached  as  teacher  from  its  foundation  in  1843  till  his  death  in 
1S73. 

Until  towards  the  middle  of  our  century  we  see  musical 
romanticism  expanding  itself  more  and  more  under  the  guidance 
of  MENDELSSOHN  and  SCHUMANN.  Then  came  the  eventful  year 
18i8,  in  which  the  political  and  social  aims  that  during  the  first 
half  of  the  century  were  only  obscurely  perceived,  showed  them- 
selves in  perfect  clearness  to  humanity  hungering  for  progress. 
MENDELSSOHN  was  not  to  survive  the  movement  of  that  year; 


156  THE  ROMANTICISTS  OF  THE   19™  CENTURY. 

SCHUMANN  was  most  likely  externally  touched  by  it  as  is  shown 
by  his  "Four  marches,  1849",  in  which  he  endeavored  to  represent 
on  the  pianoforte  the  impressions  of  the  martial  life  about  him 
—  meanwhile  his  art-tendency  remained  the  same,  in  fact  his  in- 
clination to  romantic  dreaminess  increased  to  the  point  of  morbid- 
ness. And  yet  the  epoch  with  its  positive  acquisitions  urged  to 
the  setting  up  of  new  aims  for  art  also ;  for,  if  SOCRATES  gives 
the  warning  "nowhere  to  change  the  laws  of  music  and  to  in- 
troduce no  new  music-species  unless  simultaneously  with  the  most 
important  civic  regulations",*,  yet  we  may  maintain  on  the  other 
hand  that  so  radical  a  change  of  "civic  regulations",  so  powerful 
a  revolution  as  that  of  the  year  1 848  necessarily  involved  a  change 
also  of  art-aspects  and  art-needs.  To  satisfy  this  desire,  to  sub- 
stitute something  new  for  romanticism,  which  had  outlived  its 
time,  required  a  more  robust  artist-nature  than  that  of  MENDELS- 
SOHN and  SCHUMANN,  or  even  of  their  epigones.  In  RICHARD 
WAGNER,  with  whom  our  musico-historical  survey  comes  to  an 
end,  we  shall  become  acquainted  with  the  man  who  with  rare 
many-sided  talent  and  iron  will-power  opened  new  careers  to  music, 
and,  as  is  made  more  plainly  manifest  from  year  to  year,  has  by 
his  reformatory  labors  supplied  the  need  of  progress  felt  not  only 
by  his  own  nation  but  by  the  entire  cultivated  world. 


*  Cited  by  PLATO  in  his  "Republic". 


xn. 

RICHARD  WAGNER. 


The  discussion  of  an  artist  still  living  and  creating  among 
ns*  in  the  same  line  with  the  greatest  masters  of  the  past  is,  to 
be  sure,  on  principle  not  allowable,  because  to  his  contemporaries 
is  denied  a  general  survey  of  his  work,  and  it  must  therefore  be 
left  to  a  later  time  to  authentically  determine  its  value.**  If 


*  The  German  original  of  these  lectures  was  published  in  1879.  RICHARD 
WAGNER  died  on  the  13th  of  February,  1883.  Translator. 

**  Just  as  we  cannot  correctly  judge  the  height  of  a  mountain  when  we 
are  near  to  it,  and  it  is  only  at  a  certain  distance  that  we  can  notice  its  pro- 
portion to  the  neighbouring  peaks,  so  too  the  judgment  for  or  against  an  ex- 
traordinary phenomenon  in  the  art-domain  will  be  erroneous  until  it  can  be 
surveyed  in  its  entire  significance,  which  experience  shows  us  to  be  imprac- 
ticable for  contemporaries  and  granted  to  a  succeeding  generation  only.  This 
by  no  means  new  experience,  as  also  the  other,  that  categorical  judgments 
favorable  or  unfavorable  to  a  new  tendency  antagonistic  to  the  older  one  con- 
stantly lead  only  to  fruitless  party  disputes,  should  not  however  induce  us  to 
remain  passive  and  wait  till  the  new  ideas  struggling  for  existence  have  either 
conquered  or  been  conquered.  "We  ought  rather  to  use  all  diligence  to  ap- 
propriate them,  to  overcome  the  feeling  of  strangeness  that  on  superficial  ac- 
quaintance separates  and  repels  us  from  them:  in  this  way  we  shall  show  fair 
play  to  the  pioneer  artist  who  offers  us  the  best  he  has,  the  richest  treasures 
of  his  mind,  and  at  the  same  time  form  a  counterpoise  to  the  great  number 
of  those  who,  chiefly  from  indolence  and  dread  of  what  seems  strange,  disdain 
these  gifts  and  then  are  soon  ready  to  condemn  the  giver.  But  after  we  have 
become  intimate  with  the  new  art-tendency  and  have  clearly  recognized  the 
intention  of  its  representative,  we  should  not  withdraw  ourselves  from  his 
leadership  at  an  arbitrarily  determined  point;  we  should  rather  regard  it  aa 
an  artistic  duty  to  follow  the  man  of  whose  superior  art-insight  we  have  once 
had  proof,  even  when  he  strikes  out  a  path  differing  from  his  previous  one. 
The  so  common  saying:  "I  have  all  respect  for  So-and-so,  but  I  do  not  go 
with  him  through  thick  and  thin41,  is  at  bottom  nothing  but  the  ridiculous 


158  RICHARD  WAGNER. 

nevertheless  in  RICHARD  WAGNER'S  case  we  make  an  exception 
to  the  principle  according  to  which  history  has  to  do  only  with 
what  is  already  accomplished,  we  are  justified  herein  for  many 
reasons.  First,  because  the  movement  originated  by  him  has  its 
starting-point  in  the  facts  of  an  artistically  glorious  past;  next, 
because  the  ends  to  which  he  aspired  have  through  his  literary 
labors  been  most  accurately  indicated  and  made  discernible  to 
every  one;  lastly,  because  more  than  a  generation  is  already  be- 
hind us  since  he  excited  universal  attention  by  his  artistic  crea- 
tion, so  that  a  survey  of  this  latter  is  even  now  to  a  certain  de- 
gree practicable.  To  occupy  ourselves  in  detail  with  what  WAGNER 
has  done  as  poet,  composer  and  philosopher  is  of  course  imprac- 
ticable in  this  place,  in  view  of  the  immense  extent  of  it  all,  as 
also  of  the  limited  time  at  our  disposal.  Nothing  more  can  be 
done  here  than  to  cast  a  glance  at  the  formation-process  of 
WAGNER'S  art,  and,  since  the  chief  moments  of  his  eventful  life 
are  in  close  relation  to  his  artistic  development,  a  short  sketch 
of  his  career  up  to  the  well-known  events  of  the  last  years  will 
be  the  best  means  of  attaining  our  end.  For,  as  GOETHE  happily 
puts  it  to  his  friend  ZELTER,  after  affirming  his  partiality  for  the 
study  of  musical  history,  "who  understands  any  phenomenon  when 
he  is  not  penetrated  by  the  process  of  its  origination?" 

RICHARD  WAGNER  was  born  in  Leipsic  on  the  22d  of  May, 
1813,  only  four  years  after  MENDELSSOHN  and  three  years  after 
SCHUMANN,  accordingly  as  contemporary  of  the  men  beyond  whose 
musical  sphere  of  thought  he  took,  a  generation  later,  so  power- 
ful a  leap  that  one  should  be  inclined  to  imagine  a  distance  of 
many  generations.  The  cannon's  thunder  of  the  battle  of  the 
nations,  which,  announcing  Germany's  deliverance,  was  mingled 


assumption  of  prescribing  to  genius  the  domain  of  its  creative  labors,  of  draw- 
ing the  lines  beyond  which  it  may  not  go.  "When  we  think  we  have  dis- 
covered something  wrong  in  an  approved  author",  says  COLERIDGE,  "we  should 
first  assume  that  we  are  unable  to  understand  him,  until  we  have  fully  satis- 
fied ourselves  of  his  incapacity."  The  fate  of  BICHARD  WAGNER'S  works  can 
leave  no  doubt  that  the  observance  of  this  rule  would  have  spared  the  artist 
many  a  disheartening  experience,  and  his  over-hasty  critics  many  a  subsequent 
mortification.  Moreover  WAGNER  is  by  no  means  alone  in  his  experiences: 
the  lot  of  his  'Tannhauser",  "Lohengrin",  "Tristan  and  Isolda",  and  "Meister- 
singer"  was  the  same  as  that  of  KAMEAU'S  operas,  for  instance,  each  one  of 
which  fell  through  on  its  first  performance  because  —  it  was  not  sufficiently 
like  its  predecessor,  t.  e.  surpassed  it  in  sig-iificance. 


RICHARD   WAGNER.  159 

with  the  suckling's  first  indications  of  life,  the  national  enthusi- 
asm amid  which  he  received  his  earliest  impressions,  can  hardly 
have  failed  to  have  an  enduring  influence  on  the  development  of 
the  child's  disposition.  In  his  very  cradle  that  love  of  country 
must  have  germinated  in  him  that  afterwards  proved  to  be  one 
of  the  essential  traits  of  WAGNER'S  character,  and  which  neither 
his  clear  intelligence  of  foreign  superiority  in  some  points  nor 
the  obstinate  mistrust  he  long  met  with  in  Germany  was  ever 
able  to  weaken.  His  artistic  predispositions  likewise  even  in  tender 
childhood  did  not  lack  nourishment,  thanks  to  the  loving  stimu- 
lation of  his  step-father,  the  play-actor  LUDWIG  GEYER,  who  left 
nothing  undone  to  compensate  the  boy  for  the  early  loss  of  his 
own  father.  His  musical  education  was,  to  be  sure,  not  a  success, 
and  the  instruction  in  pianoforte-playing  had,  on  account  of  the 
pupil's  aversion  to  purely  technical  study,  to  be  given  up  after  a 
short  time.  On  the  other  hand,  as  pupil  of  the  Kreuzschule  at 
Dresden,  whither  his  family  had  removed  after  GEYER'S  death,  he 
showed  a  lively  interest  in  ancient  languages  and  antique  poetry. 
The  Greek  poets  especially  attracted  him,  afterwards  Shakespeare 
also,  through  which  latter  he  was  inspired,  before  attaining  ado- 
lescence, to  his  first  poetical  attempt.  This  was  a  grand  tragedy, 
of  which  the  author  himself  tells  us  that  it  occupied  him  two  full 
years,  and  in  the  matter  of  piling  up  bloody  combats  was  on  a 
par  with  any  of  the  dramas  of  his  great  model.  "Forty  two  men 
died  in  the  course  of  the  piece,  and  at  the  performance  I  found 
myself  obliged  to  let  most  of  them  reappear  as  ghosts,  as  other- 
wise I  should  have  had  no  personages  in  the  last  acts."* 

To  this  period  belong  also  the  first  lasting  impressions  on  the 
youth's  musical  nature,  the  occasion  of  which  was  a  performance 
of  "Der  Freischtttz",  which  was  enthusiastically  received  in  Dres- 
den as  previously  in  Berlin,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the 
champions  of  Italian  opera,  as  also  of  the  poets  of  literature, 
whose  head,  LUDWIG  TIECK,  had  called  "Der  FreischQtz"  "the 
most  unmusical  clatter  that  had  ever  blustered  on  the  stage". 
WAGNER'S  admiration  of  WEBER'S  art  and  person,  which  dated 
from  that  time,  was  not  diminished  in  the  course  of  his  develop- 
ment, not  even  when,  in  Leipsic,  after  he  had  returned  thither  in 


•  R.  WAGNER,  Autobiographical  sketches,  in  his  collected  writings. 


160  RICHARD   WAGNEK. 

consequence  of  his  step-father's  death,  he  had  become  familiar 
with  BEETHOVEN'S  music.  This  acquaintance  was  by  all  means 
calculated  to  take  up  the  exclusive  attention  of  the  fifteen  year 
old  youth  for  some  time;  the  "Egmont"  music  particularly  so  af- 
fected him  that  he  resolved  to  make  music  his  profession,  being 
stimulated  to  this  chiefly  by  the  desire  of  bringing  his  tragedies 
before  the  public  with  similar  musical  accompaniments.  That  he 
was  the  man  to  compose  such  music  one  day,  and  that  he  also 
need  not  fear  the  difficulties  of  the  study  requisite  for  it,  was  for 
him  virtually  a  matter  of  course;  but  this  was  not  the  opinion  of 
his  relatives,  to  whom  it  appeared  a  serious  matter  that  the  young 
enthusiast  should  exchange  the  already  adopted  profession  of  poet 
for  another.  A  union  of  the  poetical  and  musical  callings,  in 
view  of  the  opinions  dominant  at  their  time  (to  some  extent  even 
now),  and  after  the  practice  of  a  century  had,  in  spite  of  all  ef- 
forts to  the  contrary,  as  it  were  sanctioned  the  division  of  this 
work  between  two  persons,  necessarily  appeared  to  them  a  fan- 
tastic and  aimless  undertaking.* 

WAGNER  too  had  to  acknowledge  the  necessity  of  his  devot- 
ing himself  primarily  to  music  exclusively,  in  order  to  attain  the 
end  held  out  before  him,  and  accordingly  he  began,  after  com- 
pleting the  scientific  course  (first  at  the  Leipsic  "Nicolaischule", 
afterwards  at  the  University),  to  give  himself  up  to  the  study  of 
counterpoint  with  all  diligence.  Aided  in  this  by  the  precentor 
of  the  "Thomasschule",  WEINLIG,  and  in  farther  attempts  at  com- 
position by  HEINRICH  DORN,  at  that  time  music-director  at  the 
Leipsic  theatre,  he  was  able  as  early  as  1 833  to  come  before  the 


*  The  yearning  for  the  re-union  of  the  poet  and  the  musician  in  one 
person  appears  since  the  downfall  of  antique  culture  to  have  never  entirely 
died  out,  for  we  repeatedly  find  it  expressed  by  artistically  inclined  natures. 
Thus,  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  writes  to  the  electoral  princess  MARIA  ANTONIA 
of  Saxony,  who  had  sent  him  two  operas  written  and  composed  by  her:  "You 
give  an  example  to  composers,  who,  in  order  to  succeed  well,  should  all  be 
poets  at  the  same  time"  And  LESUEUR,  music-director  at  the  church  of  Notre 
Dame,  Paris,  complains,  thus,  in  an  essay  published  1787,  of  the  restrictions 
put  upon  the  catholic  church-composer  •  "Oh !  if  it  were  only  permitted  to  the 
musician  to  write  the  words!  What  could  he  not  do!"  Examples  of  similar 
vain  wishes  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely;  all  the  fewer  for  this  reason  ap- 
pear the  musicians  who  contrary  to  custom  have  regarded  it  as  an  artistic  duty 
to  write  their  text  themselves. 


RICHARD  WAGNER.  16} 

public  as  composer,  to  wit,  with  a  symphony,  which  was  performed 
at  one  of  the  "Gewandhaus"  concerts,  as  also  with  a  concert- 
overture,  played  during  the  same  season.  He  approached  still 
more  nearly  the  practical  side  of  his  calling  on  a  journey  under- 
taken soon  after  to  WI)RZBURG,  where  his  brother  ALBERT  was 
engaged  as  singer  and  play-actor  and  he  himself  temporarily  took 
part  in  the  theatrical  performances  as  chorus-leader.  Here  he  also 
composed  his  first  dramatic  work,  a  three-act  romantic  opera  "The 
Fairies",  the  text,  of  which  he  himself  had  written  after  Gozzi's 
"La  donna  serpente."  He  was  very  anxious  to  have  this  maiden 
work  performed,  after  he  had  returned  to  his  native  city ;  yet  new 
obstacles  were  constantly  arising  to  cause  delay,  and  as  a  turn 
in  the  direction  of  WAGNER'S  taste  had  occurred  at  this  very 
time,  after  he  had  through  the  agency  of  the  celebrated  singer 
Madame  SCHRODER-DEVRIENT  recognized  the  charm  and  the  merit 
of  Italian  and  French  opera,  he  lost  all  interest  in  his  own  opera 
and  threw  away  the  advantage  of  a  public  performance.  Literary 
activity  now  indemnified  him  for  the  success  denied  him  for  the 
time  being  as  creative  artist.  An  essay  written  under  the  in- 
fluence of  AUBER'S  opera  "Masaniello"  exhibits  him  to  us  as  the 
inexorable  adversary  of  one-sidedness  and  routine,  in  which  char- 
acter he  afterwards  provoked  a  no  less  bitter  opposition.  "We 
certainly  have",  he  maintains,  "a  department  of  music  that  is  pe- 
culiarly our  own,  and  that  is  instrumental  music;  but  a  German 
opera  we  have  not,  for  the  same  reason  that  we  have  likewise 
no  national  drama.  We  are  much  too  intellectual  and  much  too 
learned  to  create  warm  human  forms.  .  I  have  of  course  no 
desire  that  French  and  Italian  music  should  crowd  out  our  own, 
but  we  ought  to  recognize  the  true  in  both  and  beware  of  all 
selfish  hypocrisy.  —  We  ought  to  breathe  anew  out  of  the  rub- 
bish that  threatens  to  stifle  us,  to  get  rid  of  a  good  lot  of  affected 
counterpoint  and  at  last  become  human." 

The  position  of  theatrical  music-director  at  Magdeburg,  upon 
which  WAGNER  entered  in  the  autumn  of  the  following  year  (1834), 
afforded  him  ample  opportunity  to  satisfy  his  many-sided  art-needs 
as  above  expressed.  The  motley  change  in  the  opera-repertory 
of  a  German  city-theatre,  the  daily  rehearsal  and  direction  of 
German,  Italian  and  French  operas,  together  with  the  experiences 
thus  gained,  helped  him  to  bear  cheerfully  the  burdens  of  his 

11 


162  RICHARD   WAGNEB. 

new  calling  and  kept  up  his  courage,  though  he  often  had  to 
acknowledge  that  his  efforts  to  elevate  the  theatre  would  be  un- 
successful, owing  to  its  petty  surroundings.  Meanwhile  a  second 
opera  also  had  been  finished:  "Das  Liebesverbot",  founded  on 
SHAKESPEARE'S  "Measure  for  measure",  the  music  of  which  shows 
an  incomparably  greater  freedom  than  that  of  "The  Fairies",  which 
was  strongly  influenced  by  WEBER.  This  work  was  put  on  the 
stage  in  the  winter  of  1 836,  but  the  circumstances  of  its  perform- 
ance were  so  little  favorable  that,  with  the  exception  of  some 
tolerably  well  executed  scenes,  it  produced  no  effect,  while  the 
author  realized  on  this  occasion  more  deeply  than  ever  the  dark 
side  of  his  calling  and  recognized  the  impossibility  of  achieving 
anything  artistically  advantageous  with  the  means  at  the  disposal 
of  a  city-theatre  of  smaller  rank.  He  determined  therefore  to 
adapt  his  next  great  work  from  the  very  outset  to  a  stage  of  the 
first  rank,  without  troubling  himself  where  or  when  he  should 
find  the  latter.  With  this  view  he  made  the  sketch  of  a  grand 
tragic  opera  in  five  acts:  "Rienzi,  the  last  of  the  Tribunes",  and 
so  planned  it  as  to  render  it  impossible  to  produce  this  opera  - 
at  least,  for  the  first  time  -  at  a  theatre  of  limited  resources. 
For  the  present  WAGNER  continued  of  course  to  be  assigned  to 
stages  of  subordinate  rank,  having  to  act  as  theatrical  music- 
director  in  1 836  in  Konigsberg  and  in  the  following  year  in  Riga. 
That  he  did  not  find  artistic  satisfaction  in  either  of  these  cities 
was  no  more  than  what  he  should  have  expected  after  his  pre- 
vious experiences,  and  as  he  had  moreover  to  struggle  with  ma- 
terial cares  he  formed  the  resolution  —  in  his  circumstances  a 
romantic  one  —  of  removing  to  Paris,  to  arrange  there,  if  pos- 
sible, for  the  production  of  the  meantime  finished  "Rienzi"  at 
the  Grand  Opera. 

In  the  summer  of  1839  this  plan  had  been  matured;  the 
journey  was  entered  upon  in  a  sailing-vessel  bound  for  London  — 
"The  voyage"  —  writes  WAGNER  —  "lasted  three  weeks  and  a  half, 
and  was  full  of  disasters.  Three  times  we  suffered  from  a  most 
violent  tempest  and  the  captain  was  once  obliged  to  run  into  a 
Norwegian  harbor.  The  passage  through  the  Norwegian  head- 
lands made  a  wonderful  impression  on  my  imagination ;  the  legend 
of  the  "Flying  Dutchman",  as  I  heard  it  confirmed  by  the  sailors, 
took  on  in  me  a  determinate  and  peculiar  color,  that  only  the 


EICIIARD    \VAGNEB. 


103 


sea-adventures  I  had  had  could  impart  to  it."  After  a  short  stay 
in  London  WAGNER  betook  himself  to  Paris,  where  he  arrived  in 
the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  rich  in  hopes  but  with  greatly 
reduced  finances.  Being  entirely  without  letters  of  introduction  he 
had  no  one  but  MEYERBEER  to  go  to,  having  made  his  acquaint- 
ance on  his  journey,  in  Boulogne,  where  the  latter  had  most  cordi- 
ally promised  his  assistance.  But  neither  his  own  energy  nor 
the  efforts  of  his  influential  colleague  could  guard  the  sanguine 
artist  against  those  disappointments  that  were  necessarily  involved 
in  the  enormous  competition  of  skilled  labor  in  the  French  cap- 
ital. During  the  very  first  winter  he  was  forced  to  the  convic- 
tion that  in  the  state  of  things  in  Paris,  regulated  by  the  laws 
of  fashion  and  of  speculation,  his  ideal  tendency  would  with  dif- 
ficulty ever  find  appreciation.  The  extreme  poverty  that  some- 
times forced  him  to  lay  aside  all  independent  art-labor,  that  he 
might  gain  a  subsistence  by  literary  work  for  the  "Gazette  Musi- 
calew  and  by  opera-arrangements,  even  for  the  cornet,  increased 
his  bitterness  against  his  surroundings.  This  feeling  of  his  found 
its  utterance  in  the  Overture  —  composed  during  this  winter  — 
to  GOETHE'S  "FausP,  the  motto  of  which  indicates  the  mood  that 
was  fermenting  in  the  artist's  interior  and  was  transferred  to  the 
composition : 

The  god  who  thron'd  within  my  breast  resides. 
Deep  in  my  inmost  soul  can  stir  the  spring*; 
With  sovereign  sway  my  energies  he  guides, 
But  hath  no  power  to  move  external  things; 
And  thus  my  very  being  I  deplore, 
Death  ardently  desire,  and  life  abhor." 

We  pass  over  the  unhappy  period  from  the  beginning  of  1 840, 
the  date  of  the  Faust-overture,*  till  the  spring  of  1842,  when 
WAGNER,  without  having  gained  a  single  success,  but  for  that  all 
the  richer  in  experience,  turned  his  back  upon  the  French  capital. 


•)  This  work  is  worthy  of  note  for  two  reasons-  first,  as  being  the  first 
of  WAGNER'S  works  to  give  to  the  great  public  evidence  of  vitality;  second, 
because  here,  in  the  midst  of  so  much  that  is  gloomy,  we  recognize  the  ener- 
getic nature  of  the  artist,  which  does  not  allow  itself  to  be  overwhelmed,  after 
the  manner  of  the  earlier  romanticists,  by  the  miseries  of  life  and  the  world- 
woe,  but  courageously  enters  into  the  fight  with  the  powers  of  darkness  and 
at  the  end  comes  off  victorious. 

11* 


164  RICHARD   WAGNER. 

The  news  that  his  operas  "Rienzi"  and  the  long  finished  "The 
Flying  Dutchmen"  had  been  accepted  for  performance,  the  former 
in  Dresden  the  latter  in  Berlin,  had  thrown  a  cheerful  light  upon 
his  ever  darkening  prospects,  and  at  the  same  time  powerfully 
kindled  in  him  the  yearning  for  his  native  country.  He  arrived 
in  Dresden  just  in  time  to  superintend  the  rehearsals  of  the 
"Rienzi"  and  to  be  witness  of  the  enthusiastic  applause  with  which 
the  public,  in  spite  of  high-wrought  expectations,  received  the 
work  on  its  first  performance  (Oct.  20,  1842).  As  the  composer 
was  appointed  music-director  at  the  opera-house  the  very  next 
year  and  thus  made  sure  of  a  subsistence,  one  should  naturally 
think  that  the  time  of  trial  was  over  for  him.  Had  he  only  been 
content  to  remain  standing  at  the  stage  of  development  now 
reached,  to  follow  as  poet-composer  in  future,  as  he  had  already 
followed  in  his  "Rienzi",  the  prototypes  of  French  grand  opera, 
and  to  tread  conscientiously  the  path  indicated  by  his  predeces- 
sors —  his  artist-career  would  presumably  have  elapsed  in  un- 
disturbed peace.  But  nothing  of  all  this  occurred.  At  the  very 
appearance  of  "The  Flying  Dutchman"  (Berlin,  January  1844)  the 
friends  of  his  art-tendency,  who  had  expected  a  kind  of  music 
like  that  of  "Rienzi",  felt  for  the  greater  part  dissatisfied;  but 
still  greater  and  more  general  was  the  disappointment  when  in 
1845  the  "Tannhauser"  had  its  first  performance.  The  effect  of 
this  opera  even  on  the  Dresden  public  was,  despite  WAGNER'S 
personal  relations  to  it,  one  of  such  surprise  that  the  artist  once 
more  had  to  bear  the  whole  weight  of  the  feeling  of  isolation. 
Moreover,  as  director  he  had  in  the  very  first  days  of  his  official 
duties  in  many  ways  offended  his  superiors  as  well  as  his  sub- 
ordinates by  his  want  of  consideration  in  combating  the  abuses 
inseparable  from  operatic  affairs.  Under  these  circumstances  he 
was  convinced  that  even  under  the  most  highly  favorable  condi- 
tions, such  as  the  Dresden  court-theatre  was  well  able  to  offer, 
a  realization,  though  but  approximate,  of  his  artistic  ideals  was 
entirely  out  of  the  question. 

If  we  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  the  artist,  whose  ill  humor 
had  passed  over  into  perfect  discouragement  after  he  been  obliged 
to  give  up  even  the  hope  of  bringing  out  his  "Lohengrin",*  which 


*  It  was  not  till  1850  that  the  "Lohengrin"  was  performed,  through  the 


RICIIARD   WAGNER.  155 

meantime  (1817)  had  been  finished,  we  can  scarcely  wonder  that 
the  storm-and-stress  year  1843  found  him  in  the  ranks  of  the 
discontented.  As  regards  his  active  participation  in  the  reform- 
cnovement  of  that  year  he  kept  himself,  it  is  true,  strictly  within 
the  limits  of  his  calling,  and  restricted  himself  to  laying  before 
the  Saxon  minister  of  public  worship  and  education  a  "Plan  for 
the  organisation  of  a  German  national  theatre",  whose  chief  aim 
was  the  change  of  the  Dresden  court-theatre  into  a  national  the- 
atre, and  its  support  by  the  state  and  assignment  to  the  ministry 
of  instruction,  in  accordance  with  its  destination  as  institute  for 
popular  culture.*  Nevertheless,  with  his  warm  and  always  un- 
reservedly expressed  interest  in  social  and  political  questions 
generally  it  was  inevitable  that  he  too  should  become  involved 
in  the  disturbances  of  May,  1819,  and  figure,  after  the  reaction 
had  set  in,  with  his  name  on  the  list  of  the  suspected.  Fortu- 
nately he  realized  the  danger  of  his  position  early  enough  to  enable 
him  to  take  flight.  A  writ  of  arrest  sent  after  him  and  renewed 
as  late  as  1853,  commanding  the  German  authorities  "to  seize 
WAGNER,  RICHARD,  one  of  the  most  prominent  adherents  of  the 
Destructives,**  in  the  event  of  meeting  him,  and  to  hand  him 
over  to  the  royal  city  court  at  Dresden",  must  have  removed  from 
his  mind  every  doubt  as  to  the  dangers  from  which  his  flight  had 
delivered  him. 

By  way  of  Paris,  where  he  found  the  soil  for  his  endeavors 
not  more  favorable  this  time  than  at  his  first  sojourn,  WAGNER 
arrived  at  Zurich,  and  being  thus  a  second  time  snatched  away 
from  the  native  soil  so  indispensable  for  his  practical  art-labors, 
he  now  felt  the  urgent  desire  to  attain  by  the  way  of  theory  a 
thorough  clearing  up  of  his  ideas,  to  give  himself  and  them  that 


agency  and  under  the  direction  of  FRANZ  LISZT,  at  Weimar,  where  the  latter 
had  a  year  before  taken  the  position  of  court-music-director.  WAGNER  him- 
self had  to  wait  eleven  years  longer  before  it  was  granted  to  him  (during  his 
residence  in  Vienna  in  1861)  to  hear  his  work  for  the  first  time. 

*  This  very  important  work,   which  however  at  that  time  utterly  failed 
of  success,  is  found  in  WAGNER'S  collected  writings,  Vol.  II. 

**  "A  name  given  by  their  political  opponents  to  men  who  call  themselves 
radical  reformers",  is  the  definition  of  the  original  German  word  "Umiturz- 
partei"  (literally,  "party  of  subversion")  given  in  FLUGEL'S  German  and  English 
Dictionary.  Translator. 


1G6  RICHARD  WAGNEB. 

were  striving  with  him  a  detailed  account  of  the  reasons  and  aims 
of  his  reformatory  activity.  Here,  far  from  musical  occupation 
and  without  any  opportunity  whatsoever  to  manifest  himself  as 
executive  artist,  he  began  a  literary  activity  that  as  complement 
of  his  musico-poetic  activity  is  hardly  of  less  importance  than 
this  latter.  In  his  first  publication  "Art  and  Revolution",  which 
appeared  in  1849,  WAGNER  expresses  his  dissatisfaction  with  the 
modern  practice  of  art,  whose  moral  aim  he  pronounces  the  ac- 
quisition of  money,  its  esthetic  pretence  the  amusement  of  the 
biases.  He  hopes  for  an  improvement  of  this  state  of  things  solely 
through  a  return  to  the  ancient  art-conditions,  the  essence  of 
which  he  declares  to  be  man's  joy  in  himself  and  in  nature,  in 
opposition  to  Christianity,  which  preaches  discomfort  and  the  re- 
fraining from  all  spontaneity,  in  order  to  break  forth  from  the 
condition  of  intellectual  oppression.*  Especially  the  Theatre,  in 
which  all  arts  combine  to  form  the  highest  art- work,  the  drama, 
is  to  be  released  from  a  servitude  to  which  at  the  present  day 
all  men  are  subjected,  viz:  industry.**  "If  industry  is  no  longer 
our  master,  but  our  servant,  we  shall  make  the  aim  of  life  the 
delight  of  existence  and  strive  to  render  our  children,  by  means 
of  education,  capable  of  and  fitted  for  the  most  effective  enjoy- 
ment of  this  delight.  Education,  starting  from  the  exercise  of 
strength,  from  the  fostering  of  personal  beauty,  will,  out  of  un- 
disturbed love  for  the  child,  and  out  of  joy  in  the  increase  of  its 
beauty,  become  a  purely  artistic  one,  and  every  man  will  in  one 
respect  or  another  be  in  truth  an  artist." 

In  a  second,  larger  work  —  "The  art-work  of  the  future" 
(1850)  —  we  find  these  principles  farther  carried  out  in  an  art- 
reformatory  sense.  WAGNER  here  indicates  the  people  as  the 
eonditionating  power  for  the  art-work,  and  man  —  in  conformity 
vrith  the  teaching  of  LUDWIG  FEUERBACH,  to  whom  the  book  is 
inscribed  —  as  his  own  god  and  superior  to  nature.  For  this 
man  that  art  alone  is  suitable  that,  as  the  only  true  one,  arises 


*  FRANZ  BRENDEL,  one  of  the  earliest  champions  of  WAGNER'S  theories, 
in  his  "Music  of  the  present"  justly  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  WAGNER, 
in  announcing  a  great  "revolution  of  humanity",  overlooked  the  social  side  of 
the  Christian  doctrines,  through  which  this  revolution  was  already  called 
into  life. 

**)  Less  euphemistically,  "working  for  one's  living".  Translator. 


KICHARD   WAGNER.  107 

from  the  combination  of  all  our  art-genera.  The  individual  arts, 
that  hitherto  quarreled  and  separately  strove  for  precedence,  ought 
to  draw  near  to  each  other  in  reciprocal  love  and  modesty  and 
take  each  its  proper  rank,  in  order  at  length  to  unite,  in  the 
drama,  for  the  joint  art-work,  the  art-work  of  the  future.  —  Still 
more  sharply  does  WAGNER  define  his  aim  in  a  third  work,  — 
"Opera  and  Drama**  (1851).  Here  he  sets  out  from  the  maxim 
that  modern  opera,  as  art-species,  is  an  error,  since  in  it  a  means 
of  expression  —  music  —  is  made  the  end,  and  on  the  other  hand 
the  true  end  -  -  the  drama  -  -  becomes  a  means.  Only  by  unity 
of  poetry  and  music  can  the  music-drama  attain  immediate  effect. 
But  to  obtain  this  unity  each  of  these  two  arts  must  sacrifice  the 
conventional  peculiarities  developed  in  them  in  the  course  of  time, 
speech  must  again  lay  hold  of  the  musical  elements  see  page  9) 
that  were  lost  in  the  progress  of  its  development  and  concern 
itself  exclusively  with  material  that,  like  the  Greek  myth  and  the 
German  national  legend,  addresses  itself  to  sensuous  perception. 
The  music  -  -  more  correctly,  the  melody,  as  its  essence  —  must 
not  exist  for  its  own  sake  but  spring  naturally  from  the  expres- 
sively delivered  language,  and  be  in  uninterrupted  connection  with 
it  as  also  with  the  action  represented  on  the  stage. 

In  his  philosophical  investigations  WAGNER  followed  at  first 
the  doctrines  of  L.  FEUERBACH,  afterwards  those  of  ARTHUR  SCHO- 
PENHAUER, whose  theory  of  life  is  already  partially  expressed  in 
his  poems  written  before  his  acquaintance  with  SCHOPENHAUER'S 
philosophy,  but  afterwards  was  fully  accepted  by  him  and  genially 
applied  for  determining  the  nature  of  his  art.  SCHOPENHAUER, 
in  his  principal  work  The  World  as  Will  and  Idea",  which,  ap- 
pearing in  1819,  was  for  decennaries  long  almost  unnoticed,  de- 
notes the  world  surrounding  us  as  a  phenomenon  ( Vorstellung,  i.  e., 
representation  or  idea)  formed  by  ourselves,  to  which  he  confronts 
the  Will  as  the  real.  His  conception  of  the  latter  is  however  to 
be  taken  in  a  sense  far  transcending  the  commonly  accepted  one, 
as  he  understands  by  it  not  only  the  conscious  desire,  but  also 
the  unconscious  impulse,  even  down  to  the  forces  manifesting 
themselves  in  organic  nature.  The  will,  in  SCHOPENHAUER'S  view, 
is  the  essence  of  the  world  and  the  kernel  of  every  phenomenon, 
the  permanent  in  the  constant  alternation  of  rise  and  decay  of 
external  things,  hence  synonymous  with  the  "Ideas*1  of  the  Pla- 


168  BICHARD   WAGNEK. 

tonic  philosophy,  and  with  the  "thing  in  itself'  of  that  of  KANT. 
But  whereas  the  "ideas"  in  PLATO'S  sense  can  be  imagined  only 
notionally,  and  KANT  holds  the  "thing  in  itself  to  be  unknow- 
able, it  is  possible  for  us.  according  to  SCHOPENHAUER,  to  com- 
prehend the  substance  of  things,  in  as  much  as  perception  breaks 
loose  from  its  original  subjection  to  our  will  and  no  longer  re- 
gards things  in  their  relations  to  it.  By  this  means  the  perceiv- 
ing subject  ceases  to  be  a  merely  individual  one,  and  rests  in 
fixed  contemplation  of  the  object  presented  (out  of  its  connection 
with  any  others)  and  becomes  identified  with  it.* 

Now  this  kind  of  perception  is  the  origin  of  art,  which  re- 
peats the  eternal  ideas  comprehended  through  pure  contemplation, 
the  essential  and  permanent  of  all  the  phenomena  of  the  world. 
In  the  art-work  we  recognize  the  archetype^  of  which  the  individ- 
uals making  their  appearance  are  only  likenesses.  Art  alone  is 
capable  of  temporarily  freeing  us  from  the  torment  of  life,  which 
latter  is  according  to  SCHOPENHAUER  a  constant  suffering.**  Life 


*  "If,  —  says  SCHOPENHAUER  in  his  work  above  named  —  "lifted  up 
by  the  power  of  the  spirit  we  let  go  the  usual  way  of  looking  at  things,  and 
cease  to  follow  up  radically,  by  the  clue  of  the  formations  of  the  sentence, 
only  their  interrelations,  whose  final  aim  is  always  the  relation  to  the  individ- 
ual will,  thus  considering  no  longer  the  "Where,  the  When,  the  Why  and  the 
Wherefore,  but  only  the  What;  and  do  not  allow  abstract  thought,  the  con- 
ceptions of  reason,  the  consciousness  to  be  captivated,  but  instead  of  all  this 
yield  the  whole  power  of  our  intellect  to  contemplation,  sink  ourselves  entirely 
in  it  and  allow  our  whole  consciousness  to  be  filled  with  the  quiet  con- 
templation of  the  natural  object  happening  to  be  present,  be  it  a  landscape, 
a  tree,  a  rock,  a  building  or  anything  whatsoever;  utterly  losing  ourselves  in 
this  object,  ».  e .,  precisely  forgetting  our  individuum  (our  will)  and  continuing 
to  exist  only  as  mere  subject,  as  clear  mirror  of  the  object,  so  that  it  is  as 
if  the  object  alone  existed,  without  any  one  to  perceive  it,  and  thus  we  can 
no  longer  separate  the  contemplator  from  the  contemplation,  but  both  have 
become  One,  the  whole  consciousness  being  entirely  filled  and  possessed  by 
one  single  perceptible  image;  when,  I  say,  in  this  way  the  object  has  stepped 
out  of  all  relation  to  anything  outside  of  it,  the  subject  out  of  all  relation  to 
the  will,  then  that  which  is  thus  perceived  is  no  longer  the  individual  thing, 
as  such:  it  is,  rather,  the  Idea,  the  eternal  Form." 

**  In  his  Ethics  SCHOPENHAUER  indicates  as  man's  highest  duty  the  sup- 
pression —  not  of  life  itself,  but  —  of  the  desire  to  live,  by  means  of  ascet- 
icism. Here  his  doctrine  agrees  on  the  one  hand  with  that  of  the  Buddhists 
concerning  the  removal  of  suffering  by  quitting  the  checkered  world  of  life 
(Sansara)  and  entering  into  unconsciousness  (Nirvana),  and  on  the  other  hand 


RICHARD   WAGNER.  169 

is  never  beautiful  (says  he  in  another  place),  but  the  images  of 
life  alone  are,  to  wit,  in  the  transfiguring  mirror  of  art  or  of 
poesy.  The  essential  denotement  of  the  nature  of  the  artist  is 
his  ability  to  see  constantly  the  general  in  the  particular,  to  rec- 
ognize in  individuals  the  ideas  expressing  themselves  in  them. 
"What  we  call  the  quickening  of  genius,  the  hour  of  inspiration, 
the  moment  of  enthusiasm,  is  nothing  else  than  the  liberation  of 
the  intellect,  when  the  latter,  temporarily  freed  from  its  subjec- 
tion to  the  will,  no  longer  sinks  into  inactivity  or  exhaustion,  but, 
for  a  short  time,  entirely  alone,  of  its  own  accord  is  active.  It 
is  then  of  the  greatest  purity  and  becomes  a  clear  mirror  of  the 
world;  for,  entirely  separated  from  its  origin,  the  will,  it  is  now 
the  very  world  as  idea  concentrated  in  one  consciousness"  (ibid.}. 
WAGNER,  in  his  monograph  "BEETHOVEN"*  (written  in  1870 
for  the  celebration  of  the  centenary  of  the  master's  birthday) 
starts  out  from  the  above  doctrine  for  attaining  musico-philosoph- 
ical  results  of  the  greatest  importance.  SCHOPENHAUER  had  already 
ascribed  to  music  a  nature  entirely  different  from  plastic  and  poetic 
art,  and  recognized  in  it  not  merely  a  copy  of  the  idea  of  the 
world  but  this  very  idea  itself.  As  for  the  phenomena  of  the 
visible  world  outside  of  us,  their  character  in  the  abstract  most 
clearly  speaks  to  us  out  of  the  works  of  plastic  art,  "the  proper 
element  of  which,  consequently,  is  the  employment  of  the  illusive 
semblance  of  the  world,  spread  out  before  us  by  the  agency  of 
light,  for  the  manifestation,  by  virtue  of  a  highly  thoughtful  play- 


with  the  ascetic  elements  in  Christianity.  The  same  theory  of  life  forms  also 
the  basis  of  WAGNER'S  grand  and  touching  poem  Tristan  and  Isolda",  in  which 
we  find  repeatedly  expressed  not  only  SCHOPENHAUER'S  view  of  the  world  as 
a  phenomenon  of  our  own  creation;  but  also  the  yearning  to  fly  from  the  de- 
ceptive light  of  day  to  the  twilight  of  unconsciousness,  —  as,  for  instance,  in 

the  words  :f 

"Blissful  beams  our  eyes  are  binding, 

"Abashed  is  earth  with  radiance  blinding; 

"Lit  by  the  daylight's  dazzling  lie, 

"Undaunted  by  falsehoods  which  we  defy, 

Thou'rt  my  world,  thine  am  I." 

*  This  work  has  been  translated  into  English  with  the  author's  express 
permission  and  approbation,  by  Mr.  ALBERT  R.  PARSONS.  New  York,  G.  SCHTB- 
MER,  1883. 

t)  Th«  tramlation  gir«n  it  Corder'i.  (Translator.) 


170  RICHARD  WAGNER. 

ing  with  that  semblance,  of  the  Idea  which  it  veils.  *  *  *  #  But 
the  semblance  of  things,  to  the  contemplation  of  which  we  devote 
ourselves  during  moments  of  sesthetical  perception  free  from  Will, 
always  remains  the  effective  element  here.  *  *  *  *  Our  conscious- 
ness which,  even  in  gazing  at  a  semblance,  alone  enables  us  to 
grasp  the  Idea  which  is  manifested  by  it,  may  at  last  feel  im- 
pelled to  exclaim,  with  Faust: 

"A  wondrous  show!  but  ah!  a  show  alone  1 
"Where  shall  I  grasp  thee,  infinite  nature,  where?" 

The  most  certain  of  answers  to  this  cry  is  given  by  music. 
The  outer  world  speaks  to  us  with  such  incomparable  intelligibil- 
ity here,  because,  by  virtue  of  the  effect  of  sounds,  it  commu- 
nicates to  us  through  hearing  precisely  what  we  call  out  to  it 
from  the  depths  of  our  soul.  The  Object  of  the  tone  that  is  heard 
coincides  immediately  with  the  Subject  of  the  emitted  tone;  we 
understand  without  any  intermediation  through  conceptions  what 
is  said  to  us  by  the  cry  for  help,  or  of  mourning  or  joy,  which 
we  hear,  and  answer  it  at  once  in  the  corresponding  sense  *  *  * 
No  illusion,  as  in  the  semblance  of  light,  to  the  effect  that  the 
fundamental  nature  of  the  world  external  to  us  is  not  completely 
identical  with  our  own  essential  nature,  is  possible  here,  by  which 
the  gulf  that  to  the  sight  seems  to  exist  at  once  vanishes."* 

The  antagonism  that  the  appearance  of  the  first  named  writ- 
ings of  WAGNER  called  forth  was  especially  violent,  for  the  reason 
that  their  author  had  attacked  together  with  the  existing  opera 
its  representatives  also,  some  of  whom  were  still  living,  and  had 
acted,  it  was  charged  (as  too  often  happens  in  like  cases),  from 
personal  motives  in  uttering  his  opinions.  But  even  among  those 
who  did  not  doubt  of  the  purity  of  his  artistic  intention  WAGNER 
was  unable,  owing  to  the  roughness  with  which  his  theory  con- 
fronted the  temporarily  ruling  one,  to  find  for  the  time  being 
more  than  slight  appreciation.  This  state  of  things  was  not  im- 
proved when  the  artist  courageously  followed  up  his  theories  by 
deeds,  and  in  his  music-drama  "Tristan  and  Isolda"  (finished  in 
1859)  consummated  with  most  perfect  consistency  the  break  with 
the  previous  opera-form.  Nay,  the  verbal  and  tonal  language  of 


E  i  HO  YEN",  A.  R.  PARSONS'  translation,  pp.  26,  27,  28. 


RICHARD   WAGNER.  171 

the  Tristan",  so  utterly  divergent  from  the  operas  of  his  prede- 
cessors and  even  from  his  own  Tannhauser^  and  "Lohengrin" 
which  had  meanwhile  become  known  and  liked,  estranged  from 
him  even  a  part  of  those  art-friends  who  had  till  then  been  his 
supporters.  Moreover  it  was  reckoned  certain  that  the  difficulties 
of  performance  were  insuperable,  after  the  efforts  made  at  Carls- 
ruhe  and  Vienna  to  produce  the  work  had  been  of  no  avail. 
Under  these  circumstances  Wagner  resolved  in  the  year  1859  to 
appeal  a  third  time  to  the  susceptibility  of  the  Parisian  public; 
but  this  time  also  he  was  to  be  deceived  in  his  faith  in  the  French 
art-insight  that  had  so  unequivocally  been  displayed  at  the  ap- 
pearance of  GLUCK.  For  the  public,  although  to  a  certain  extent 
familiarized  with  the  new  music-tendency  through  a  series  of  bril- 
liant and  artistically  successful  concerts  in  the  Theatre  Italien  (at 
the  beginning  of  1860),  felt,  at  the  subsequent  performances  of 
the  Tannhauser"  (in  March,  1861),  so  annoyed  in  its  artistic  rou- 
tine and  expressed  its  displeasure  so  recklessly  —  even  a  critic  so 
experienced  and  a  musician  so  devoted  to  progress  as  BERLIOZ 
joined  on  this  occasion  in  the  almost  universal  sentence  of  con- 
demnation I  —  that  the  author  had  no  resource  but  to  withdraw 
his  score  after  the  third  performance. 

Again  poorer  by  one  expectation  WAGNER  left  Paris,  and, 
the  interdict  resting  upon  him  from  1849  having  meanwhile  been 
raised,  turned  to  Germany,  where  the  number  of  the  friends  of 
his  art  had  increased  from  year  to  year  and  sympathy  for  him 
had  in  consequence  of  his  Parisian  experience  been  greatly  inten- 
sified. It  was  of  course  not  yet  his  fortune  to  find  a  permanent 
abode  for  his  work.  Then  occurred  the  event  so  momentous  for 
his  artist-career,  the  accession  to  the  throne  of  LUDWIG  II.  of 
Bavaria.  This  prince,  filled  with  love  for  WAGNER'S  art  from 
boyhood,  hesitated  not  a  moment  to  call  the  master  to  him  at 
Munich  (1861),  and  to  place  absolutely  at  his  disposition  the  rich 
musical  resources  that  the  royal  residence  afforded.  WAGNEB 
obeyed  the  call,  and  the  proximate  consequences  of  his  emigra- 
tion were  the  establishment  of  a  music-school  according  to  his 
plan,  as  also  the  performance  of  Tristan  and  Isolda"  (iS6.~>)  with 
the  co-operation  of  the  SCHNORRS,  husband  and  wife,  in  the  title- 
roles,  and  under  the  direction  of  HANS  VON  Hi' LOW,  when  it  was 
proved  that  this  work,  formerly  accounted  impracticable,  requires 


172  BICHARD   WAGNER. 

only  the  entire  devotion  of  the  artists  engaged  in  it  to  attain  its 
effect  without  fail. 

We  have  thus  arrived  at  the  third  period  of  the  master's  life 
—  that  is,  if  the  second  must  be  dated  from  the  appearance  of 
his  "Rienzi"  —  and  have  accordingly  reached  the  limits  imposed 
at  the  outset  upon  this  short  recital.  The  subsequent  principal 
events  of  his  career  have  been  as  it  were  personally  lived  through 
with  him  by  the  art-friends  even  of  the  latest  generation,  and 
scarcely  need  to  be  specially  brought  into  prominence.  How 
WAGNER  saw  his  restless  activity  so  hindered  even  in  Munich  that 
he  was  obliged  to  leave  the  city  even  at  the  end  of  1865;  how 
he  then  finished*  his  "Meistersinger  von  Niirnberg"  in  the  rural 
solitude  of  his  villa  Tribschen  near  Lucerne,  and  with  the  first 
performance  of  this  work  in  Munich  in  1868,  despite  all  the 
counter-currents  working  there  met  with  a  triumph  that  put  all 
his  previous  successes  in  the  shade;  finally,  how  he  conceived  at 
the  beginning  of  our  decennium  the  idea  of  the  Bayreuth  Fes- 
tival-plays, and  spite  of  the  boldness  of  this  plan  found  so  warm 
an  interest  in  it  that  as  early  as  1872  (on  the  22d  of  May,  the 
artist's  fifty-ninth  birth-day)  the  corner-stone  of  the  theatre  to  be 
built  for  this  purpose  could  be  laid  —  all  this  lives  still  fresh  in 
the  memory  of  contemporaries.  So  too  the  most  significant  event 
in  WAGNER'S  life,  the  bringing  about  (in  1876)  of  the  Festival- 
plays  at  Bayreuth)  up  to  the  last  day  considered  by  doubters 
an  impossibility,  and  their  inauguration  by  the  representation  of 
the  Nibelungen-trilogy,  composed  to  that  end. 

If  there  is  any  indemnity  at  all  for  the  sufferings  and  dis- 
appointments that  are  never  lacking  to  the  artist  who  is  in  ad- 
vance of  his  time,  it  must  on  these  memorable  days  have  been 
granted  to  RICHARD  WAGNER  in  unusually  rich  measure.  For 
here  he  was  able  to  attain  to  the  certainty  that  the  German  na- 
tion, though  represented  at  Bayreuth  of  course  by  a  small  frac- 
tion only,  attached  itself  to  him  in  full  confidence  and  had  learned 
to  appreciate  his  exertions  in  behalf  of  German  art.  And  many 
a  one  of  the  festival  guests,  in  so  far  as  he  did  not  allow  his 


*  According  to  the  date  of  origin  the  "Meistersinger"  comes  between 
Tannhauser"  and  "Lohengrin",  for  the  poem  was  sketched  by  WAGNER  as 
early  as  1845,  while  he  was  at  Marienbad. 


RICHARD  WAGNER.  173 

feeling  of  susceptibility  to  be  disturbed  by  the  external  defects 
that  were  unavoidable  by  reason  of  the  novelty  of  the  undertak- 
ing, but  dispassionately  gave  himself  up  to  the  solemn  frame  of 
mind  induced  by  the  seclusion  of  the  place  and  the  concurrence 
of  thousands  of  like  mind  —  many  a  one  of  them  must  have  felt 
during  those  days  the  full  significance  of  HERDER'S  prophetic  words 
uttered  (with  reference  to  GLUCK)  almost  a  century  before:  "the 
progress  of  the  century  will  lead  us  to  a  man,  who,  despising  the 
frippery  of  wordless  tones,  perceived  the  necessity  of  an  intimate 
connection  of  human  feeling  and  of  the  myth  itself  with  his  tones. 
From  that  imperial  height  on  which  the  ordinary  musician  boasts 
that  poetry  serves  his  art,  lie  stepped  down  and  made  his  tones 
only  serve  the  words  of  feeling,  the  action  itself.  He  has  em- 
ulators :  and  perhaps  some  one  will  soon  outstrip  him  in  zeal,  over- 
throwing the  whole  shop  of  slashed  and  mangled  opera-jingle  and 
erecting  an  Odeon,  a  consistently  lyric  edifice,  in  which  Poetry, 
Music,  Action  and  Decoration  unite  in  one.19 


APPENDIX. 


TABLE 
for  memorizing  certain  dates  of  musico-historical  importance* 


Although  it  is  not  to  be  expected  of  the  reader  that  he  should 
memorize  the  dates  occurring  in  this  short  recital  (to  say  nothing 
of  those  found  in  more  detailed  works  on  music-history),  yet  the 
retention  of  some  few  dates,  round  about  which  the  remaining 
facts  may  group  themselves,  may  be  considered  an  indispensable 
condition  of  successful  study.  For  facilitating  this  I  have  in  the 
following  Table  placed  opposite  to  the  musico-historical  dates 
certain  well-known  epochs  of  general  history,  the  latter  having 
been  chosen  solely  on  mnemotechnic  grounds,  although,  in  con- 
formity with  the  character  of  the  book,  reciprocal  relationships 
between  the  development  of  music  and  that  of  general  history 
were  kept  in  sight  as  far  as  possible. 

Antiquity  and  the  Middle  Age. 

753.  Rome  founded  by  Romulus  and  776.  Beginning  of  the  Olympic  garnet 

Remus.  and  of  the  Olympiad-era. 

600.  Solon,  law-giver  of  Athens,  an  600.  Thespis  brings  about  the  trans- 
opponent  of  dramatic  represent*-  ition  from  the  Hacchus-festivalft 
tions.  (Dionysia)  to  Tragedy. 

490.  Victory  of  the  Greeks  over  the  472.  Attic  Tragedy  reaches  its  cli- 

Persians  at  Marathon.  max  in  Aeschylus.  Performance 

of  "The  Persians". 


176 


APPENDIX. 


429.  Death  of  Pericles. 


404.  End  of  the  Feloponnesian 
War;  the  leadership  in  Greece 
passes  over  from  Athens  to 
Sparta. 

838.  Battle  of  Chseronea.  Down- 
fall of  Grecian  liberty. 

836.  Alexander  the  Great  accedes 
to  the  throne. 


68.  Death  of  the  emperor  Nero. 

833.  Constantino  the  Great  pro- 
claims Christianity  the  state  re- 
ligion. 

875.  Beginning  of  the  Migration  of 
Nations. 

526.  Death  of  Theodoric  the  Great, 
King  of  the  Ostrogoths  in  Italy. 


622.  Establishment   of  Islamism  by 
Mahomet. 

814.  Death  of  Charlemagne. 


1077.  Emperor  Henry  IV.  does  pen- 
ance at  Canossa  before  Pope 
Gregory  VII. 

1270.  End  of  the  Crusades. 

1305 — 1377.  Residence  of  the  Popes 
in  Avignon. 

1453 .  Conquest  of  Constantinople  by 
the  Turks. 


Separation,  with  Euripides,  of 
the  calling  of  the  poet  from  that 
of  the  musician. 

405.  Palmy  days  of  Attic  Comedy. 
Performance  of  "The  Frogs",  by 
Aristophanes. 

Development  of  the  Sophistic 
Philosophy. 

Development  of  Oratory. 
Demosthenes  died  322. 
Aristotle  died  322.   His  pupil, 
the    music-theorist   Aristoxe- 
nos. 


A.  D. 


67.  Nero's  art-journeys  in  Italy 
and  Greece. 

814.  Pope  Sylvester  founds  in  Rome 
the  first  singing-school. 

867.  The  Council  of  Laodicea  for- 
bids congregational  singing. 

886.  ArchbishopAmbrose  introduces 
into  the  church  of  Milan  the 
chant  named  after  him. 

524.  Death  of  Boethius,  last  philo- 
sopher and  music-theorist  of 
antiquity  at  the  court  of  Theo- 
doric. 

604.  Death  of  Pope  Gregory  the 
Great,  founder  of  the  Grego- 
rian Chant. 

840 — 930.  Hucbald.  First  attempts 
at  polyphonic  music  Organuin 
or  Diaphony). 

1024.  Pope  John  IX.  Guido  of  Arez- 
zo's  method  of  vocal  instruction 
and  improvement  of  music-no- 
tation, 
1200.  Franco    of  Cologne,    oldest 

writer  on  mensural  music. 
1880.   The  Netherlander  William  Du- 
fay,  member  of  the  papal  choir 
at  Rome. 

1476.  The  Netherlander  Tinctoris 
publishes  the  first  music-lexi- 
con. "Terminorum  music*  dif- 
finitorium". 


APPENDIX. 


177 


1492.  Discovery  of  America  by  Co- 
lumbus. 

1817.  Martin  Luther  posts  95  theses 
against  Indulgences  on  the  door 
of  the  Cathedral  at  Wittemberg. 

1563.   Close  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 


1072.  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew. 

1600.  Marriage  of  Henry  IV.  of 
France  and  Maria  de'  Medici  at 
Florence. 


1490.  Adrian  Willaert,  founder  of 
the  Venetian  school,  born  at 
Bruges. 

1021.  Death  of  Josquin  des  Pres. 
Netherlandic  counterpoint  at  the 
climax  of  its  development 

1565.  Performance  of  Palestrina's 
three  6-voiced  masses  dedicated 
to  Philip  II.,  among  them  the 
"Missa  Papae  Marcelli". 

1570.  Orlando  Lasso,  music-director 
at  Munich,  finishes  his  Peni- 
tential Psalms. 

1600.  First  performance  of  the  music- 
drama  Euridice  by  Rinuccini, 
music  by  Peri,  and  of  the  sacred 
music-drama  "La  rappresen- 
tazione  di  aniiua  e  di  corpo", 
by  Cavaliere. 


Modern  Times. 


1611—1648.  The  Thirty  Years' War. 


1673.*  Passage  of  the  Test-act,  in 
England,  under  Charles  II. 

1685.  Kepeal  of  the  Edict  of  Nan- 
tes. 
1704.**  Battle  of  Blenheim. 

1725.  Death  of  Peter  the  Great. 
Russia  received  among  the  Eu- 
ropean Powers. 


1627.  First  appearance  of  opera  in 
Germany.  (Performance  of  Ri- 
nuccini's  "Dafne"  with  music 
by  SchQtz  in  Torgau.) 

1637.  Establishment  of  the  first  public 
opera-house,  the  Teatro  Cas- 
siano  at  Venice. 

1672.  Lulli  acquires  the  supreme  di- 
rection of  operatic  affairs  in 
France. 

1685.  Bach  and  Handel  born. 

1703.  Handel  begins  his  labors  for 
the  opera  at  Hamburg. 

1725.  Death  of  Alessandro  Scarlatti. 
The  Neapolitan  school  found- 
ed by  him  obtains  supremacy 
throughout  Europe. 

1729.  First  performance  of  Bach's 
Matthew-Passion  at  Leipsic. 


•  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  substituting  here  for  the  "Battle  of  Fehr- 
bellin",  with  its  date,  1675,  an  eveat  of  more  interest  to  the  English-speaking 
reader.  (Translator.) 

*•  Historical  event  substituted  (see  above  Note]    for  that  given  in  th» 
original  ( Trantlator.) 

12 


178 


APPENDIX. 


1740.  Accession  of  Frederick  the 
Great  to  the  Prussian  throne. 

1756.  Beginning  of  the  Seven  Year's 
War. 

1775.*  Battles  of  Lexington  and  of 
Bunker  Hill. 

1795.*  Partition  of  Poland  by  Rus- 
sia, Prussia  and  Austria. 

1805.  Battle  of  Austerlitz.    Napo- 
leon I.  in  Vienna. 
1809.   Battle  of  Wagram. 

1813.  Battle  of  the  Nations  near 
Leipsic. 

1821.  Death  of  Napoleon  I.  at  St. 
Helena. 


1740.  Handel  closes  his  operatic  ca- 
reer and  devotes  himself  to 
Oratorio. 

1756.  Mozart  born. 

1774.  First  performance  of  Gluck'e 
"Iphigenia  in  Aulis",  at  Paris. 

1795.  Establishment  of  the  Paris 
"Conservatoire  de  musique 
et  de  declamation." 

1805.  First  performance  of  Beetho- 
ven's "Fidelio"  at  Vienna. 

1809.  Death  of  Joseph  Haydn  at 
Vienna. 

1813.  Richard  Wagner  born.  First 
performance  of  Rossini's  "Tan- 
credi",  at  Venice. 

1821.  First  performance  of  Weber's 
"Der  Freischiitz",  at  Berlin. 


*  Historical  event  substituted  (see  Note,  p.  177)  for  that  given  in  the 
•riginaL  (Translator^ 


INDEX. 


Iccentus  ecclesiasticus,  105.  106.  111. 

Adam  de  la  Hale,  41. 

Adam,  Louis,  154. 

jEolian  Scale,  19. 

J£schylus,  8. 

Alkan,  154. 

All  Fools'  Day  (Fools'  Festival),  105. 

Amati,   132. 

Ambrose,  Archbishop,  20. 

Ambrosian  Chant,  22. 

Ancient  disuse  of  final  minor  Triad,  65. 

Ancient  Greek  music,  tone-genera  of,  19. 

Ancient  Modes,  the,  reduced  to  two,  83. 

Animuccia,  107. 

Anti-bouffonites,  83. 

Antiphonary,  24. 

Antiquity,  the  music  of,  1. 

Arabians,  the,  influence  of  on  culture, 

26. 

Aristozenus,  "the  Musician",  12. 
Ars  organandi,  28. 
Artistic  (Italian)  singing,  71. 
Art-sonp,  142. 
Ass's  Festival,  105. 
Auber,  91. 
Authentic  Mode,  21. 
Azione  sacra  107. 

Bach.  C.  P.  Emanuel,  127.  137. 

Bach,  J.  Sebastian,  83.  94. 113. 124, 135. 

BaTf,  75. 

Baillot,  155. 

Bardi,  Giovanni,  61. 

Basso  continuo,  108. 

Bassoon,  132. 

Bassus  generalis,  108. 

Bass-viola,  131. 

Bayreuth,  festival-play  172. 

Beak-flute  (flute  a  bee',  131 


Beauchamp,  78. 

Beethoven,  Louis  van,  101.  137.  140 

Bellini,  73. 

Berger,  Ludwig,  154. 

Berlioz,  Hector,  151.  171. 

Bernhard,  Christoph,  94. 

Bernhard,  the  German,  124. 

Bertini,  Henri,  154. 

Boccaccio,  52. 

Boethius,  16,  17. 

Boieldieu,  91. 

Bombard,  132. 

Boutfonites  and  anti-bouffonite*,  13. 

Bow-instruments,  131. 

Bulnv.  Hans  von,  171. 

Buxtehude,  124. 

Byrd.  William,  117. 

Caccini,  Giulio,  61. 

Caldara,  70.  109. 

Cambert,  Robert,  77.  117. 

Camerata,  of  Florence,  61. 

Campra,  81. 

Canon,  48. 

Cantabile  pianoforte  playing,  153. 

Canzone,  134. 

Carissimi,  Giacomo,  08.  109. 

Cassiodorus,  16. 

Cavalicre,  Emilio  del,  10.?. 

Cavalli,  67. 

Cembalo,  125. 

Chamber-cantata,  109. 

Chamber-music  style,  68. 

Uftamperon,  78. 

Charlemagne,  23. 

Cherubini,  90. 

Chinese,  music-system  of  the,  3. 

Chopin,  Frederic,  152. 

Chorus,  origin  of  the,  64. 


18u 


INDEX. 


Chromatic  element  in  music,  the,  64. 

Church-music,  109.  —  in  the  18th  cen- 
tury, 72.  —  at  Hamburg,  94. 

Clarinet,  132. 

Classic,  Classical,  59. 

Clavicembalo,  125. 

Clavichord,  125.  126. 

Clement  of  Alexandria  forbids  the 
chromatic  tone-series,  16. 

Clementi,  Muzio,  153. 

Complete  system  of  ancient  Greek  mu- 
sic, 18. 

Composer,  function  of  the,  in  the  Middle 
Age,  and  in  Luther's  time,  58. 

Confrerie  de  la  Passion,  105. 

Congregational  singing,  forbidden  by 
the  Council  of  Laodicea,  20.  —  pro- 
moted by  Luther,  56. 

Conservatoire  de  musique,  etc.,  of  Pa- 
ris, 90. 

Contest  of  singers  at  the  Wartburg,  42. 

Contrabasso,  132. 

Contrapunto  a  mente,  47. 

Corelli,  135.  154. 

Cornet,  132. 

Council  of  Laodicea  forbids  congrega- 
tional singing,  20. 

Council  of  Trent  on  church-music,  58. 

Counterpoint,  37.  47.  60. 

Couperin,  Fra^ois,  127. 

Cousser  (Kusser),  96. 

Cramer,  J.  B.t  163. 

Cristofali  (Christofori),  128. 

Cross-flute  (Flauto  traverso),  132. 

Crotta,  131. 

Crusades,  the,  influence  of  on  Wes- 
tern musical  culture  and  poetry,  40. 

Cuzzoni,  7l. 

Cyclical  instrumental  forms,  135. 

Cyprian  de  Rore,  64. 

Czerny,  Carl,  153. 

Dance,  the,  originally  accompanied  vo- 
cally, 133. 

Dance  of  Death  (Danse  Macabre),  106. 
Dante,  52. 
Dauvergne,  84. 
David,  Ferdinand,  155. 
de  Beriot,  155. 
Diaphony,  28. 
Diruta,  Girolamo,  136. 
Discant,  37.  45. 


Dissonance,  51.  66. 

Dittersdorf,  C.  D.  von,  100. 

Doles,  120. 

Donizetti,  73. 

Doric  tetrachord,  17. 

Dorn,  Heinrich,  160. 

Double  choir,  origin  of  the,  64. 

Dowland,  John,  117. 

Dramatic  music,  influenced  by  Roman- 
ticism, 146.  —  of  Mendelssohn  and 
Schumann,  150. 

Dufay,  Guillaume,  47. 

Dulcimer,  128. 

Duni,  85. 

Dunstable,  116. 

Durante,  Francesco,  70.  72. 

Earliest  Christian  times,  music  of  the, 

15. 

East-Indians,  their  music-theory,  2. 
Eccard,  Johannes,  110. 
Ecclesiastical  Modes>  21. 
Eginhard,  23. 
Egyptians,  the,  4.  6. 
Ekkehard,  24. 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England,  118. 
England,   musical  position  of  in  the 

Middle  age,  115. 
Enharmonic  tone-genus,  20. 
Equal  temperament,  82. 
Equilibrium  in  ancient-times  between 

tone  and  speech,  abolished  through 

Euripides,  '10. 
Esthetics,  139. 

Faburden  (Faux-bourdon),  46. 

Fagotto,  132. 

Festival-play  at  Bayreuth,  172. 

Fiddle,  131. 

Fides,  131. 

Fidula,  131. 

Field,  John,  154. 

Fifths,    parallel,    earliest  prohibition 

of,  37. 
FigeUa,  131. 
Figured  bass,  109. 
Flauto  traverso  (Cross-flute),  132. 
Flute,  123.  132.  133. 
Flute  a  bee  (Beak-flute),  132. 
Folk-song  (Volkslied),  45.  49.  56.  130. 

142. 
Fools'  Festival  (All  Fools'  day),  105. 


INDEX. 


181 


Forkel  opposes  Gluck,  b9. 
Form  of  the  Scarlatti  overture,  69  (note). 
Four-voiced  vocal  music,  earliest  ex- 
ample of,  46. 

Franco  of  Cologne,  36.  3fi. 
Franz,  Robert,  143. 
French  opera,  "5. 
Frescobaldi,  Girolamo,  124.  134. 
Froberger,  124. 
Fugue,  48. 
Fux,  Johann  Joseph,  70. 

Qabrieli,  Andrea,  66. 

Gabrieli,  Giovanni,  66.  134. 

Gafor,  Franchinus,  46. 

Galilei,  Vincenzo,  61. 

German  idealism,  137. 

German  Opera,  92.  148. 

Germany,    first  opera-performance  in, 

92. 

Germany,  Italian  opera  in,  70. 
Gesualdo,  Carlo,  68. 
Gibbons,  Orlando,  117. 
Gluck,  Christopher  von,  86.  97.  t9. 
Gluckites  and  Piccinites,  87. 
Gossec,  90. 

Goudimel,  Claudio,  59. 
Graun,  Carl  Heinrich,  71.  120. 
Greek  music-system,  17. 
Greek  tragedy,  origin  of,  7. 
Greeks,  music  of  the,  7. 
Gregorian  chant,  22. 
Gregorian  tones,  21. 
Gregory  the  Great,  20. 
Gretry,  85. 
Guarneri,  132. 
Guide  d'Arezzo,  32. 
Guidonian  Hand,  34. 

Haendel  (Handel),  G.  F.,  70,  96.  112. 

113.  115.  117. 
Hamburg,    church   music  at,   94.    — 

German  opera  at,  93.  96. 
Hand,  the  Guidonian,  34. 
Harmony,  ancient  meaning  of,  29. 
Harpsichord,  125. 
Hasler,  Hans  Leo,  110. 
Hasse,  Faustina,  71. 
Hasse,  Johann  Adolph,  70.  71.  120. 
Haydn,  Joseph,  98. 
Hebenstreit,  Pantaleon,  128. 
Hers,  Henri,  154. 


Hexachord  system,  34. 

Hilary,  Pope,  20. 

Miller,  Johann  Adam,  98.  130. 

Homophonic  style  of  pianoforte  play- 

ing,  136. 

Hucbald  (Ubaldus),  28. 
Hummel,  Johann  Nepomuk,  153. 
Hyporchema,  133. 

Idealism,  German,  as  affecting  German 

instrumental  music,  137. 
"Improperia"  'Reproaches),  59. 
Instrumental  forms,  cyclical,  135. 
Instrumental  music,  11.  122. 
Instrumental  style,  133. 
Instruments  with  keys  and  bows,  123. 
Invention  of  the  pianoforte,  129. 
Invention  of  music- printing,  51. 
Ionian  Scale,  19. 
Italian  opera,  63.  70. 
Jewish  musical  culture,  6. 
Johannes  de  Muris,  37. 
Jomelli,  72. 
Jongleurs,  41. 
Josquin  des  Pres,  50. 

Kalkbrenner,  154. 
Kant,  Immanuel,  138. 
Kauer,  Ferdinand,  100. 
Kayscr,  Christoph,  99. 
Reiser,  Reinhard,  94.  96.  112. 
Key,  idea  of,  in  antiquity,  3. 
King  of  the  violins,  45. 
Kreutzer,  155. 
Kuhnau,  Johann,  136. 
Kullak,  Theodor,  153. 
Kusser  (Cousser),  96. 

Lacombe,  154. 

Laodicea,  Council  of,  20. 

Lassus    Lasso),  Orlando,  110. 

Laudi  spiritual!,  107. 

Leibnitz,  138. 

Leipsic,  German  opera  at,  98. 

Leo,  Leonardo,  70. 

Lied  ohne  Worte,  150. 

Liszt,  Franz,  151.  153.  164. 

Lotti,  109. 

Lulli,  Giovanni  Battista,  78. 

Lute,  129. 

Luther,  Martin,  54.  56. 


182 


INDEX. 


Lydian  tetrachord,  17. 
Lyric  poetry,  11.  142. 

Madrigal,  60.  68. 

Manelli,  67. 

Marcello,  Benedetto,  109. 

Marchand,  Louis,  127. 

Marchettus  of  Padua,  37. 

Marenzio,  Luca,  60. 

Marius,  129. 

Marschner,  Heinrich,  147. 

Marseillaise,  La,  90. 

Martin,  Vincenzo,  72. 

Master-singers,  42. 

Master-song1,  German,  end  of,  44. 

Mattheson,  94.  112.  127. 

Mazarin,  Cardinal,  76. 

Medieval  notation  of  mensural  music, 
36. 

Mehul,  90. 

Mendelssohn -Bartholdy,  Felix,  120. 
145.  149. 

Merulo,  Claudio,  124.  13* 

Meyerbeer,  91.  163. 

Minnegesang  (Minnesong),  42. 

Minnesinger,  42. 

Minstrels  (Jongleurs),  41. 

Minuet,  137. 

Missa  Papse  Marcelli,  59. 

Mixtures  (organ\  124. 

Mode,  21. 

Modes,  ecclesiastical,  21. 

Modes,  the  ancient,  reduced  to  two,  85. 

Monochord,  125. 

Monody,  first  appearance  of,  61. 

Monsigny,  85. 

Monteverde,  Claudio,  66.  131. 

Morales,  107. 

Morlacchi,  148. 

Morley,  Thomas,  117. 

Moscheles,  Ignaz,  154. 

Mozart,  97.  99.  100.  140.  153. 

Muller,  Wenzel,  100. 

Murer,  Bernhard,  124. 

Music,  dramatic,  146. 

Music  of  the  early  Christians,  15. 

Music  of  the  Greeks,  7. 

Musical  culture,  Jewish,  6. 

Musical  development  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, 4. 

Musical  elements  of  speech,  9. 

Musical  temperament,  65. 


Music-notation,   Hucbald's  attempted 

reform  of,  31. 
Music-notation,    improved    by  Guido 

d'Arezzo,  32. 

Music-system  of  the  Chinese,  3. 
Music-system  of  the  Greeks,  17. 
Music-printing,  51. 
Music-theory,  64.  82. 

Neri,  Filippo,  107. 

Nero,  Roman  emperor,  13. 

Netherlander,  musical  sovereignty  of 

the,  40. 

Netherlandic  counterpoint,  48. 
Neumes,  31. 
Northern    nations,    as   cultivators   of 

instrumental  music,  27. 
Notation,  31.  32. 
Notkers,  the  two,  24. 


Oboe,  132. 


49. 


17. 

Octave-species,  reduced  to  two,  19. 

Olympus,  4. 

Onomato-poetic  words,  9. 

Opera,  beginnings  of,  62. 

Opera,  French,  75. 

Opera-academies,  78. 

Op6ra-Comique,  84. 

Opera,  German,  96.  148. 

Opera-house,  the  first,  67. 

Opera,  Italian,  63.  70. 

Operetta  (Song-play,  Singspiel),  97. 

Oratorio,  104,  107—110.  115. 

Oratorio-chorus,  119. 

Orchestral  symphony,  69.  137.  139. 

Organ,  123. 

Organating  (ars  organandi),  28.  45. 

Organum,  28.  29.  30. 

Organ-pedals,  124. 

Origin  of  scale-names,    Ut,  He,  Mi, 

etc.,  32. 

Ottaviano  dei  Petrucci,  51. 
Overture,  Scarlatti's,  69  (note). 

Pachelbel,  124. 

Paisiello,  72. 

Palestrina  (Pier  Luigi)  58.  60.  107. 

Pan's  pipes,  122. 

Parallel  octaves  and  fifths,  37. 

Paris  Conservatory,  90. 


IXDEX. 


183 


Partita,  135. 

Pasquini,  124. 

Passion,  104.  110—112.  114.  120. 

Passion-play,  106. 

Paumann;Paulmann),  Conrad,  124.129. 

Perpolese,  72. 

Peri,  Jacopo,  61. 

Pen-in,  Abbe,  76.  78.  79. 

Petrarca,  52. 

Petrus  and  Rom  anus,  24. 

Philidor,  85. 

Philosophy,  Sophistic,  10.  12. 

Phrygian  tetrachord,  17. 

Pianoforte,  126.  129.  136.  152. 

Piccini,  70.  72. 

Piccinites  and  Gluckites,  87. 

Pier  Luigi  (Palestrina),  58.  60. 

Pistocchi,  71. 

Plagal  Mode,  21. 

Poet,  in  antiquity,  9. 

Poetry,  lyric,  11/142. 

Polyphonic  music,  26.  28. 

Porpora,  70.  lib. 

Praetorius,  Michael,  123.  127. 

Program-music,  151.  152. 

Psaltery,  125. 

Purcell,  Henry,  117. 

Pythagoras,  12.  65. 

Pythagorean  third,  65. 

Quani,  Johann  Joachim,  133. 

R-imeau,  Jean  Philippe,  80.  127. 

Ilcbec,  131. 

Recitative  (stile  ranpresentativo),  61. 

Recitative  arioso,  111. 

Reduction  of  ancient  modes,  83. 

Reduction  of  the  seven  octave-species, 

19. 
Rdfoimation  (Luther's)   and  the  Re* 

nascence,  54. 

Reichardt,  Johann  Friedrich,  98.  142. 
Reinken,  Johann  Adam,  94.  124. 
"Reproaches"  (Improperia),  59. 
Re-union  of  poet  and  musician  in  one 

person,  Note,  160. 
Rinuccini,  61. 
"Robin  and  Marian",  42. 
Rode,  155. 
Roi  des  violons,  45. 
Roland  de  Lattre  (Orlando  Lasso),  110. 


Romans,  the  ancient,  a  native  art  not 
developed  among  them,  12. 

Romantic,  141. 

Romanticism,  141. 

Romanticists  of  the  19">  century,  141. 
151. 

Rossini,  72. 

Rota  (Rotte),  131. 

Rouget  de  Lisle,  90. 

Ro-i*seau,  Jean  Jacques,  85.  89. 

Si'pf.  Conrad,  57. 

Sachs.  Hans,  44.  92. 

Sacred  music-drama,  109. 

Saint-Saens,  154. 

Sakadas,  12. 

Salieri,  101. 

Sarette,  90. 

Sarti,  72. 

Sax,  Adolph,  133. 

Scarlatti,  Alessandro,  67.  69. 

Scarlatti,  Domenico,  70.  136. 

Scarlatti  overture,  69. 

S cheat,  Samuel,  124. 

Schclble,  120. 

Schenck  Johann,  100. 

Scherso,  137. 

Scholastic  philosophy,  37. 

Schopenhauer,  167. 

SchrSder-Devrienl^  161. 

SchrSter,  129. 

Schubert,  Frani,  143. 

Schumann,  Robert,  145.  149.  150. 

Schflfi,  Hcinrich,  93.  106.  110.  111. 

Sebastian!,  112. 

Senesino,  71. 

Sequence,  24. 

Shawm,  132. 

Silbermann,  129. 

Singing,  artistic,  71. 

Solmisation  ,  Sol-faing),  34. 

Solo  song,  first  introduced,  61. 

Sonata,  134.  135.  136. 

Song-form,  Note,  133. 

Song-play  (Singspiel),  98. 

Sophistic  philosophy,  10.  12. 

Sourdeac,  Marquis  de,  78. 

Spinet,  126. 

"Spiritual  song-booklet",  57. 

Spohr,  Ludwig,  147.  155. 

Spontini,  91.  148. 

Stamaty,  154. 


184 


INDEX. 


Steffani,  Agostino,  68. 

Stein,  Johann  Andreas,  129 

St.  Gall,  monastery  of,  23. 

Stile  rappresentativo  (recitative^,  61. 

Stradivari,  132. 

String-instruments,  122. 

Strozzi,  76. 

Suite,  135. 

Sylvester,  Pope,  founds  the  first  sing- 
ing schools,  20. 

Symphony,  the  modern  orchestral,  69. 
137.  139. 

Syncopation,  47. 

Tablature,  43.  129. 

Tartini,  154. 

Telemann,  94.  97.  112. 

Temperament,  musical,  65.  82. 

Tenor,  original  meaning  of,  46. 

Tetrachord,  17. 

Thalberg,  Sigismond,  153. 

Theile.  95. 

Theodoric,  Emperor,  16. 

Theorbo,  129. 

Theory  of  music,  enriched  by  Rameau, 

82. 

Thespis,  8. 

Thibaut  of  Navarre,  41. 
Thomas,  Ambroise,  90. 
Tinctoris,  116. 
Toccata,  134. 
Tomaschek,  154. 

Tone-genera  of  ancient  Greek  music,  19. 
Tripartite  measure  in  the  Middle  Age, 

36. 

Tritone,  35. 

Trouveres  (Troubadours),  41. 
Tutilo,  the  monk,  25. 

Ubaldus  (Hucbald),  28. 
Umlauf,  Ignaz,  99. 


"Ut  queant  laxis"  (Hymn),  IX 
Ut,  Re,  Mi,  Fa,  etc.,  32. 

Verdi,  Giuseppe,  74. 

Viadana,  Ludovico,  108. 

Vielle,  131. 

Vieuxtemps,  155. 

Vioel,  131. 

Viol,  131. 

Viola,  131.  132. 

Viola  da  braccia,  131. 

Viola  da  gamba,  131. 

Violin,  132. 

Violin-making,  132. 

Violoncello,  132. 

Viotti,  155. 

Virginal,  126. 

Vittoria,  107. 

Vivaldi,  135,  154. 

Vocalmusic,  four-voiced,  earliest  ea- 

ample  of,  46. 
Volkslied  (Folk-song),  45. 

Wagner,  Richard,  156.  157. 

Walther,  Johann,  57. 

Wartburg,  contest  of  singers  on  the,  42. 

Weber,  Carl  Maria  von,  147. 

Weber,  Dionys,  154. 

Weinlig,  160. 

Western  music-culture  and  poetry  af- 
fected by  the  Crusades,  40. 

Wholly-composed  song,  (Note)  143. 

Willaert,  Adrian,  63. 

William  of  Machaud,  46. 

William  of  Poitiers,  41. 

Wind-instruments,  122.  131.  133. 

Wulston,  his  description  of  an  organ, 
123. 

Zarlino,  Gioseffo,  64.  65. 
Zelter,  C.  F.,  142. 
Zimmermann,  154. 


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